Lucknow, Jan. 22 -- Hosts and former champions Uttar Pradesh will be aiming for an outright win against Jharkhand when the two sides meet in their four-day Elite Group A Ranji Trophy encounter, beginning here on Thursday. Vidarbha lead the group with 25 points, whereas Andhra with 22 points are at the second spot. Jharkhand have 18 points, and UP are at the fourth position with 17 points. Only an outright win can keep UP's hopes alive for a knockout berth. The hosts will be missing the services of Rinku Singh, who is on national duty in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand. The southpaw has scored 341 runs this season and his two centuries in the back-to-back matches helped Uttar Pradesh gain a vital first innings lead in those matches. Besides Rinku, the other notable name missing from the match will be Dhruv Jurel. In the recently concluded ODI series against New Zealand, Jurel couldn't get a match despite being in the side as replacement of injured wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant. "Rinku did great in both the matches and only because of his crucial knocks, UP could manage vital points in the last two matches in the first half of the Ranji season," said a support staff on condition of anonymity on Wednesday. "We don't have any information about Jurel's absence in the match here," he added. As far as UPs track record at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium is concerned, they have conceded first innings lead to Jharkhand at this venue in their only encounter against them in domestic cricket so far. On Thursday, they will be playing their 12th first class match at this venue and have so far won only one game -- against Tripura in 2019. They lost four matches and conceded first innings lead in all other five matches so far. Newly appointed captain Aryan Juyal is confident about the team's good show. "We are a balanced side and would like to play good cricket over the next four days," said Juyal, who has so far scored 249 runs in four matches with 140 being his best. "We still have hopes of qualifying for the knockout but for that everybody in the side needs to give his best as they are capable enough to change the fortunes at any juncture of the game," he added. For now, young batter Madhav Kushik with 327 runs at an average of 109.00 leads the batters' chart for UP. In-form opener Abhishek Goswami (182 runs), allrounders Shivami Mavi (187 runs, 10 wkts) and Vipraj Nigam (73 runs, 6 wkts) will also be expected to come good in the match against Jharkhand. Induction of young leg spinner Zeeshan Ansari, who took 21 wickets in the just concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, is an added advantage as the local boy would be aiming to exploit the home conditions on a slow pitch. Besides Anasri and Nigam, UP will have the luxury of fielding two more spinners in the form of Shivam Sharma and Prashant Veer. Jharkhand will be missing the services of their star batter Ishan Kishan (246 runs) who is with Team India. But batters like Shikhar Mohan (419 runs), K Kushagra (371 runs), Sharandeep Singh (371 runs) and Virat Singh (324 runs) are good enough to challenge UP bowlers in the match. In the bowling department, all eyes would be on left-arm orthodox spinner Anukul Roy, who has so far taken 21 wickets in five matches for Jharkhand. SS Raj and Rishav Raj are two other bowlers, who too can impress....