Bangalore: Seven points from three outings is surely not the start Karnataka would have wanted for their 2013 Ranji Trophy campaign. Much like last year, a win has been far from a possibility in their matches thus far.
The three draws notwithstanding, Karnataka will go into their contest against Odhisha intensely focused on a win, when their fourth round Group ‘ A’ encounter begins at Cuttack from Thursday.
The contest will be an interesting one, with both the teams on even grounds on paper, but the home team will go into the match riding on the confidence of their nine-wicket win over Jharkhand on Sunday.
On a green top wicket, which the Odisha bowlers will relish, the Karnataka batsmen will have their task cut out. Having played
on a flat track in their draw against Vidarbha, the visiting batsmen led by the experienced Robin Uthappa will have to get used to the change in conditions quickly.
Apart from Uthappa, the other batsmen have also come good in patches, with KL Rahul striking a fine 158 against Vidarbha.
Manish Pandey and Kunal Kapoor with Ganesh Satish add weight to the formidable batting line-up.
The Odisha pacers will prove to be a handful, especially Basant Mohanty and Alok Sahoo, who singlehandedly turned the tide for the home team picking up 11 and seven wickets respectively in the previous game.
The medium pacers are known to taunt the batsmen with their disciplined line and length and that has been a pivotal factor in the side bouncing back from their crushing opening loss against Punjab.
Given the conditions in
Vidarbha, Karnataka had opted for two-pace attack, but with a seaming wicket on offer, Sreenath Arvind will return to the fold and will complete the pace battery which includes Abhimanyu Mithun and H.S Sharath. Karnataka batting coach, J. Arun Kumar, on the eve of the match was confident of his boys putting up a winning show.
“The boys are doing well and we are very positive going into the contest. We are not going to look for three points, instead we'll aim for a win.“
OTHER RANJI MATCHES Group A At Rohtak: Haryana vs Punjab. At Jamshedpur: Jharkhand vs Gujarat.
At Mumbai: Mumbai vs Vidarbha Group B At Jaipur: Rajasthan vs Uttar Pradesh . At Delhi: Services v Bengal At Chennai: Tamil Nadu v Saurashtra At Vadodara: Baroda v Madhya Pradesh
