Bangalore: Hosts Karnataka will look to garner maximum points by going for a win when they take on Gujarat, currently placed second on points table, in a Group A Ranji Trophy match, starting here tomorrow.
Karnataka walked away with three points courtesy first innings lead against Jharkhand in Mysore and would be banking on K L Rahul and Mayank Agarwal to give a good start once again at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here.
Mayank, who missed out on a century on his debut, helped Karnataka take a vital 60-run first innings. He also put on a crucial 99-run partnership for the second wicket with Kunal Kapoor who scored 49.
Manish Pandey, C M Gautam and Ganesh Satish, who batted superbly in the last game, would like to capitalise on the foundation laid by the openers. Pandey and Ganesh scored brilliant half centuries while Gautam made 42 runs in first innings.
In the bowling department, Karnataka expect a lot from left-arm pacer Srinath Arvind and left-arm orthodox K P Appanna, who bagged five wickets each in the last game. Karnataka bowling spearhead and captain Vinay Kumar and pacer Abhimanyu Mithun would be rearing to go against Gujarat.
Allrounder Stuart Binny, who made just runs two and scalped one wicket, would like to get going from this match. Buoyed by garnering 10 points after thrashing Vidarbha and ensuring three points by virtue of 25-run first innings lead against a star-studded Delhi, a confident Gujarat will hope for a similar performance to further consolidate their position in the group.
Gujarat, whose bowlers bamboozled Vidarbha and Delhi, will bank on their seamers and spinners to upset the star-filled Karnataka side.
Jasprit Bumrah, who went wicketless against Delhi, impressed in his Ranji debut picking up seven wickets in the match while paceman Rush Kaleria and left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv have grabbed five and eight wickets respectively in last two games.
Slow left-arm orthodox Akshar Patel and right-arm offbreak Jesal Karia have made significant contributions by bagging seven and four wickets so far this season. In the batting department, skipper Parthiv Patel, who smashed 65 and 56 in last two matches, will look for a big score.
Venugopal Rao, who cracked a century (107) in the first innings against Delhi, will aim to continue the form against the hosts while Manprit Juneja will aim to get some runs under belt after a good showing against the New Zealand A team earlier this year.
This season, Smit Patel opened with Samit Gohel in the match against Vidarbha. Smit top-scored with a patient 73.
Karnataka squad: R Vinay Kumar (capt), K L Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Kunal Kapoor, Manish Pandey, Stuart Binny, C M Gautam (vice-capt and wicketkeeper), Ganesh Satish, Abhimanyu Mithun, H S Sharath, K P Appanna, Srinath Arvind, Abrar Kazi, Karun Nair, R Samarth.
Gujarat squad: Parthiv Patel (capt), Akshar Patel, Bhargav Merai, Chirag Gandhi, Jasprit Bumrah, Jesal Karia, Kushang Patel, Manpreet Juneja, Mehulkumar Patel, Priyank Panchal, Rakesh Dhruv, Rush Kalaria, Samit Gohel, Smit Patel (wk), Venugopal Rao.
Saurashtra to take on UP in Ranji Trophy Group B match
Saurashtra to take on UP in Ranji Trophy Group B match
Rajkot: Saurashtra will take on the Suresh Raina-led strong Uttar Pradesh in their Ranji Trophy Group 'B' match at Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) stadium, Khandheri here, starting here tomorrow. The hosts, who started the season on an ideal note by beating Rajasthan by an innings and 31 runs to earn seven points, however, could only drew the previous match against Railways to bag just one point.
"We were close to getting three points as our seamers Jaydev Unadkat and Abhishek Bhatt did well. However, the track at Khandheri is different and might help the spinners," Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Shah said.
Shah added that the hosts are strongly relying on their three spinners -- Kamlesh Makwana, Vishal Joshi and Dharmendra Jadeja -- to come good against UP. "UP is a strong side, but this match will help us to find out our weak and strong points," Shah said.
Shah insisted that the match against UP is important as it will help the team make strategy for the next games. Bhushan Chauhan, Arpit Vasavada, Sheldon Jackson, Sagar Jogiyani and Chirag Pathak would be the mainstay in batting for Saurashtra.
UP have also started this season by beating Baroda and skipper Raina expressed hope that his team would play with a positive approach.
Bengal wary of Madhya Pradesh at home
Bengal wary of Madhya Pradesh at home
Kolkata: Bengal will have a testing time at home when they take on Madhya Pradesh in their group B Ranji Trophy match beginning at the Eden Gardens here tomorrow.
Boasting a fiery attack with left-arm pacer Ishwar Pandey up their ranks, Madhya Pradesh had defeated Bengal comprehensively at home last season, while in 2011-12 they walked away with three points chasing down 496 in the first innings here.
With a green-top on offer, Pandey who already has 12 wickets from two matches will be tempted to utilise the early morning moisture as the home side will have plenty to think about. The 24-year-old left-arm pacer was the highest wicket taker (52) in the first-class matches last season and played for India A in away and home series against South Africa and West Indies.
It will be interesting to see how Bengal batting, without their mainstay Manoj Tiwary, rise up to the challenge in the next four days. "Tiwary makes a difference to the side and his absence will be an advantage," MP captain Devendra Bundela said today.
"We have done well against Bengal in the past and the boys are looking forward to another good show," Bundela said adding that getting three points would be their priority.
In batting, MP opener Satyam Chaudhary already has an unbeaten double century against Railways in their opening match while Mohnish Mishra and skipper Bundela too have showed promise with half-centuries.
Both the teams are on par in the points tally with four each from two matches. After a wash out opening fixture against Baroda here, Bengal showed some promise in the last round returning with three points from Rajashtan.
MP, on the other hand, came here after conceding first innings lead to Tamil Nadu that came after clinching three points against Railways, both at home.
That MP will be playing away for the first time this season will give an edge to Bengal as skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla today hinted to play a three-pace attack with Saurav Sarkar all set for a return. "He has high possibility to play, he's a match-winning bowler," Shukla said of Sarkar today.
In Sarkar's absence Manojit Ghosh made his debut against Rajasthan but it seems the young seamer may have to sit out tomorrow. Bengal will have to rely on wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha in the batting department in the absence of Tiwary.
Shukla, who had an extending batting session at the nets today, said: "Not only bowling, I will like to contribute in all the departments of the game."
Teams (from): Bengal: Laxmi Ratan Shukla (c), Rohan Banerjee, Arindam Das, Anustup Majumdar, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Subhomoy Das, Sandipan Das, Saurasish Lahiri, Ashok Dinda, Shib Shankar Paul, Manojit Ghosh, Saurav Sarkar, Iresh Saxena, Arnab Nandi and Shreevats Goswami.
Madhya Pradesh: Devendra Bundela (c), Satyam Choudhary, Jalaj Saxena, Naman Ojha (wk), Mohnish Mishra, Udit Birla, Rameez Khan, Anand Rajan, Amarjeet Singh, Ishwar Pandey, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, Shubham Sharma, Zafar Ali and Nikhil Sawke.
Umpires: Rajesh Deshpande (Mumbai CA) and Piyush Khakhar (Saurashtra CA); Match Referee: S Sarath (TNCA).
Match starts: 9am IST.
Time running out as Viru, Gauti face Mumbai test
Time running out as Viru, Gauti face Mumbai test
Mumbai: Out-of-favour openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will be battling against time in their bid to get back to form as Delhi take on arch-rivals and defending champions Mumbai in a Group A Ranji Trophy match at the Bandra Kurla Complex, here tomorrow.
Mumbai have 12 points from two games while Delhi has only two from as many matches.
With the likes of Gambhir, Sehwag, Mithun Manhas and Unmukt Chand in their ranks, Delhi boasts of a top heavy batting line-up but it didn't click against Gujarat in their last game where they could only manage a point.
Mumbai, on the other hand, have started their campaign in right earnest having registered back-to-back outright wins in away games against Haryana and Punjab.
That cricket is a fickle game is proved when Gambhir and Sehwag came out for a net session at a deserted BKC complex today. A year back, no one would have bet that the star-opening pair wouldn't feature in Sachin Tendulkar's farewell Test match.
Gambhir and especially Sehwag, who has had some lasting on-field memories with Tendulkar, will be battling to save his own career some 20 kms from the Wankhede Stadium.
For the 35-year-old Sehwag, who has scores of 7, 38, 1 and 15 in his last four first-class outings in the middle-order would like to get a big one in order to keep the national selectors interested in him as the Test team for South Africa will be decided in a few weeks' time.
Ditto for Gambhir, who has been doing all the hard work to get out in 30s and 40s. The left-hander would like to seal his place as the third opener in the South Africa bound squad as Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay are all but certain to board the flight to Johannesburg.
Delhi chief coach Sanjeev Sharma said that Sehwag wouldn't be given any suggestion about his batting order.
"Viru would bat where he wants to. There is simply no advice for him. If he feels he can contribute in the middle order, we are happy to have him at that slot. He is too good a player to remain out of form for a long time," Sharma told.The Delhi has named their 12-member which has left-arm quick bowler Pawan Suyal in addition to the XI that played against Gujarat.
For Mumbai, it will be an opportunity for Dhawal Kulkarni to gear up for the West Indies one dayers having been recalled to the national side after nearly four and half years. Veteran Wasim Jaffer and youngsters like Kaustubh Pawar, Surya Yadav would like to get a good knock against the likes of Ashish Nehra, Sumit Narwal and Parvinder Awana.
While Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma, who are unlikely to feature in the playing XI, will, however, not be released for the state duty as pointed out by national team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
"You don't want to release one player and then let other state associations say that why their players haven't been released," Dhoni said at the press conference on the eve of the second and final Test against the West Indies here.
Bengal wary of Madhya Pradesh at home
Bengal wary of Madhya Pradesh at home
Kolkata: Bengal will have a testing time at home when they take on Madhya Pradesh in their group B Ranji Trophy match beginning at the Eden Gardens here tomorrow.
Boasting a fiery attack with right-arm pacer Ishwar Pandey up their ranks, Madhya Pradesh had defeated Bengal comprehensively at home last season, while in 2011-12 they walked away with three points chasing down 496 in the first innings here.
With a green-top on offer, Pandey who already has 12 wickets from two matches will be tempted to utilise the early morning moisture as the home side will have plenty to think about.
The 24-year-old right-arm pacer was the highest wicket taker (52) in the first-class matches last season and played for India A in away and home series against South Africa and West Indies.
It will be interesting to see how Bengal batting, without their mainstay Manoj Tiwary, rise up to the challenge in the next four days.
"Tiwary makes a difference to the side and his absence will be an advantage," MP captain Devendra Bundela said today.
"We have done well against Bengal in the past and the boys are looking forward to another good show," Bundela said adding that getting three points would be their priority.
In batting, MP opener Satyam Chaudhary already has an unbeaten double century against Railways in their opening match while Mohnish Mishra and skipper Bundela too have showed promise with half-centuries.
Both the teams are on par in the points tally with four each from two matches.
After a wash out opening fixture against Baroda here, Bengal showed some promise in the last round returning with three points from Rajashtan.
MP, on the other hand, came here after conceding first innings lead to Tamil Nadu that came after clinching three points against Railways, both at home.
