Ranji Trophy quarters: Usual suspects need to be wary of lesser opponents

The Ranji Trophy quarterfinals begin across four venues on Thursday with usual suspects such as Saurashtra and Karnataka taking on the lesser teams capable of springing a surprise.

On paper, the most well contested quarterfinals should be between Saurashtra and Andhra in Ongole, Andhra Pradesh as both teams go into the knockouts from the elite cross pool.

Last year's runners-up Saurashtra are expected to go past Andhra, having shown solid form in the league stage to finish with three wins, four draws and a loss from eight games. Their sole defeat came against Uttar Pradesh.

Seasoned pacer Jaydev Unadkat will be expected to fire once again, having taken 51 wickets this season at an average off 11.90, continuing his stellar form from last season.

In the batting department, Sheldon Jackson has stepped up in the absence of Cheteswar Pujara and is the leading scorer of the team with 605 runs at an average of 55.

Andhra go into the game after back-to-back losses towards the end of the ...