Unbeaten Hyderabad, the clear favourite in Plate final against Meghalaya

Unbeaten Hyderabad is the clear favorite in the Plate final against Meghalaya, with a strong batting line-up.

Two-time champion Hyderabad will look to finish off its Ranji Trophy campaign in style when it takes on Meghalaya in the five-day Plate Group final at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.

Hyderabad made it to the title-clash with an innings win against Nagaland while Meghalaya scored an outright win over Mizoram in the semifinals.

The finalists have already made it to the Elite Group next season.

Unbeaten so far, Hyderabad should be the clear favourites unless Meghalaya pulls off a special performance.

With the top-order of Tanmay Agarwal (764), G. Rahul Singh (617), K. Rohit Rayudu (332), and captain Tilak Varma (304) coming good consistently, the host should be equal to the challenge of either batting first or second on a pitch which is expected to spin from the second day.

With even the lower-order batters like Nitesh Reddy, who hit a century, and Pragnay Reddy, who has been really impressive behind the wickets, chipping in with useful contributions, batting was not a concern this season against bowling attacks which apparently didn’t really pose any serious test.