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their previous outing, while Bengal start as favourites given the experience of the likes of Manoj Tiwary and Anustup Majumdar.
Saurashtra meanwhile defeated Mumbai earlier in the Ranji Trophy, but they lost to Andhra and Tamil Nadu as well. They will face a stern challenge from a young Punjab side, and the absence of A-listers such as Cheteshwar Pujara, Jaydev Unadkat and Ravindra Jadeja will come as a major boost for Punjab.
The fixture between Saurashtra and Punjab will be played in Rajkot, which is known to serve up testing conditions. Punjab’s batting lineup hasn’t set the world alight earlier this campaign and their bowlers have also just about managed to do their job, but the young side led by Abhishek Sharma may spring up a surprise or two.
Talking about Andhra, lady luck has been smiling on the squad as they overcame really tough roads to reach the quarterfinals.
They were placed in a tough group although they managed to fork their way out of it, thanks to Mumbai and Maharashtra playing out a draw, while Andhra defeated Assam by an inning to earn a bonus point as well.
Before the final round of matches, they were fourth and were clearly the outsiders, but with luck on their side can they oust the holders Madhya Pradesh, having only reached the quarterfinal stage of the Ranji Trophy twice since the last decade.
If they can eliminate the defending champs, Andhra will make it into the semifinals for only the first time.
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