Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019: Ambati Rayudu to lead Hyderabad in the tournament

India star Ambati Rayudu will lead Hyderabad in the upcoming edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy,  the premier T20 competition for the domestic teams. The tournament will be held from February 21 to  March 14. Hyderabad are in Group E along with Tripura, Puducherry, Maharashtra, Baroda, Services, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Rayudu is currently free of any international commitment as India gear up to take on Australia in the limited-overs formats. India will host Australia for two T20Is and five ODIs. But with the T2oI leg being played before the ODIs, Rayudu will have a chance to remain with Hyderabad for most of the league games. The two-match T20I series will start on February 24 in Vizag before the second game takes place in Bengaluru three days later. The five-match ODI series, on the other hand, will start on March 2.

Forgettable campaigns in Ranji and Vijay Hazare trophy

Hyderabad will open their campaign against Puducherry on February 21. Rayudu is expected to play six of the seven group stage games before leaving to join the ODI team. Hyderabad will play their sixth game against Services on February 28 before taking on Uttarakhand in the final group game on March 2. In case, Hyderabad progress to the next stage, they will have to play without their skipper. The final of the tournament will be held on March 14, a day after the ODI series ends.

Hyderabad, meanwhile, will be looking to end the domestic season on a good note after their forgettable campaigns in this season’s Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Ranji Trophy. They managed to win just one game out of 8 in the Ranji Trophy and crashed out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a crushing 103-run defeat against Karnataka.

Hyderabad squad:

Ambati Rayudu (C), Himalay Agarwal, Tanmay Agarwal, Ashish Reddy, Akash Bhandari, Mehdi Hasan, Chama V Milind, Mohammed Siraj, Telukupalli Ravi Teja,  P Akshath Reddy, Rohit Rayudu, Palakodeti Sairam, Bavanaka Sandeep, Kolla Sumanth (WK), Jamalpur Mallikarjun

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