Hubli: With back-to-back victories in last two matches, a spirited Karnataka will look to continue their good work and race past Mumbai in the points-table when they lock horns against formidable Punjab here tomorrow.
Karnataka have 19 points from five games and are placed next to table-toppers Mumbai, who have accounted for 20 points so far from their matches.
Karnataka, whose qualification to the knockouts is far from secured, will hope to register an outright win as they did against Odisha and Haryana, to get vitals points before taking on heavyweights Mumbai and Delhi in next two matches.
On paper, Karnataka's batting line-up looks strong. Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, Ganesh Satish and CM Gautam, have been the real force behind the home side's batting.
With 495 runs under his belt, Rahul has been in scintillating form, cracking one century and two half centuries.
The form of Pandey, Satish and Gautam, in the middle order will not be a cause of concern for captain R Vinay Kumar ahead of the crucial match against Punjab at the KSCA Stadium.
All-rounder Stuart Binny, who has been doing a useful job with his medium pacers, helped Karnataka wriggle out from the jaws of defeat against Haryana with his unbeaten 31-run knock in a low-scoring match.
Among their bowlers, pacers Abhimanyu Mithun and H S Sharath have been among wickets so far and would like to continue the good work.
Right-arm medium pacer Ronit More scalped seven wickets at Rohtak and he would go into the match with his tails up. Binny and spinner KP Appanna also have been among wickets.
Punjab, on the other hand, had little to cheer as they settled for just one point after their match against Vidarbha ended in a draw.
However, captain Mandeep Singh would be pumped up as his team is perched third in the points-table and would aim to dethrone Karnataka from the second spot.
Jiwanjot Singh and Mandeep have been the batting mainstay for Punjab, who together have scored 744 runs between them for the state.
The visitors' batting lineup certainly looks bullish after Jiwanjot and Uday Kaul notched up a double hundred and century, respectively against Vidarbha.
Both would like to carry the form forward against the hosts on a pitch where Cheteshwar Pujara and Gautam Gambhir belted triple century and century for India A against West Indies A.
In bowling department, Punjab will be missing the services of their captain Harbhajan Singh, who is recuperating from a shoulder injury, which has kept him out of action from Punjab's last two Ranji Trophy encounters.
The off-spinner is expected to return to competitive cricket in another 10 days time.
Punjab, however, will look up to Sandeep Sharma and D P Singh to repeat their performances against Vidarbha. Sharma finished with figures of five for 90 and Singh four for 89.
Mumbai aims to earn full points against Odisha
Mumbai aims to earn full points against Odisha
Mumbai: After being jolted by laggards Jharkhand in the previous game, a depleted Mumbai would look to regroup and seal their place in the quarterfinals with an outright victory when they take on Odisha in their Group A Ranji Trophy league clash, starting here tomorrow.
Table-toppers and defending champions Mumbai have 20 points from five games, while Odisha, who have 10 points from five outings, would be keen to upset their applecart.
The 40-time champions survived anxious moments against minnows Jharkhand to eke out a draw and they would be desperate to put up a better performance in their last home match of the league stage here at the Wankhede Stadium.
"Last game was a wake up call. On the first day we were in a pretty good position but Saurabh Tiwary played a blinder kind of an innings, so if somebody scores 238 out of 350, you have got to give credit to him. We need to pull it up again. We need to win this game," Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer said.
"We look to get a lot of points out of this game, which will probably see us through to the knockouts," he added.
The hosts would rely heavily on seasoned player Jaffer (360 runs) and wicketkeeper Aditya Tare (509 runs) to pile up a big total.
The holders must be a bit concerned over the poor form of opener Kaustubh Pawar, who was dropped from the previous match, as well as Sushant Marathe, who replaced him against Jharkhand, and got a pair.
"Kaustubh hasn't done much so he was dropped, Sushant is playing after a couple of seasons. Siddhesh (Lad) is playing his first season. We are quite young in batting department but they are all talented. They just need to click and need just one good innings to get their confidence back," Jaffer said.
Mumbai have the likes of left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar, who is the top wicket-taker with 26 victims, in their ranks, while 42-year-old leg spinner Pravin Tambe could get his maiden first class game.
"We might look to play him (Tambe). He is an experienced guy and obviously the leg spinner brings a lot of variety as well and he can also bat so that gives us a lot of cushion. We haven't decided our playing 11 but I am sure he is a strong contender," Jaffer remarked.The host team's bowling looks below par and by the Mumbai skipper's own admission, Shardul Thakur (nine wickets) and Javed Khan (13 wickets) have done well only in patches.
"Vishal Dabholkar has done really well this season. He is the lone spinner but he has come out really well. The fast bowlers Javed and Shardul have done well in patches. It will be a challenge to get the best out of them," Jaffer said.
The defending champions are missing the services of key players like Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Zaheer Khan along with Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar who are injured.
"This side is pretty young and we are missing lot of senior players. So apart from myself there is hardly anybody who has put in a lot of years. They are still quite talented and we are going with a positive mindset," Jaffer said.
Mumbai have replaced their captain twice after Zaheer Khan left for India duty and Nayar, who had initially brought in his him, was injured after the previous game.
"Only the captains have changed. Zaheer was there before and now Abhishek is injured, so I have come. I don't think it will make much difference. Getting the best out of the talented players will be a challenge," the former India player said.
Jaffer added that his team wouldn't take the opponents lightly.
Odisha, on the other hand, would look to draw confidence from Jharkhand's performance and try to create problems the hosts.
Captain Biplab Samantray (299 runs), Abhilash Mallick (344 runs), Natraj Behera (195 runs), Niranjan Behera (288) are the team's batting mainstay and they are expected to get Disha to a good first innings total.
"There is an outside chance (to beat Mumbai), especially the last match has proved that if Jharkhand can take an innings lead from Mumbai then why shouldn't we. We had also defeated Jharkhand, so we have that confidence and looking forward to a good match," Samantray said.
Pacer Basant Mohanty has been their strike bowler with 22 wickets in five games, including three five-wicket hauls.
"He is a great bowler and an asset for the team. We are lucky to have him in our team. He is also bowling well this season," the visiting team captain said.
Depleted Bengal looks to youngsters
Depleted Bengal look to youngsters
Kolkata: Needing a miracle to book a quarterfinal berth, Bengal is planning to inject young blood in their line-up against Uttar Pradesh on an Eden green top in a group B Ranji Trophy fixture beginning tomorrow.
At least three youngsters, including U-19 batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran, are likely to make first class debut for Bengal in what would be their last home match before they conclude their league outing in Tamil Nadu.
Placed fifth, Bengal are safe from being relegated to group C, while to make the last eight they need to win their remaining two matches which would be nothing short of a miracle. In such a scenario, the team strategy would be to go out in a fearless manner and give the youngsters an ample chance to show their mettle.
"We want to throw our young players to the deep end and see how they perform. We want to create an atmosphere where they can play freely. We're playing for a win and greentop is the only option," coach Ashok Malhotra said today.
There was another setback in the Bengal camp with their leading scorer and opener Arindam Das suffering a sore back. In skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla's words the opener is in "doldrums" to play tomorrow as Kaushik Ghosh might be the other debutant. In the middle order, Bengal are likely to bring in Writtick Chatterjee, a spin allrounder to give variety to the attack.
The in-form skipper Shukla, who scored a valiant 95 not out against Railways in their last match, will once again be their batting mainstay in absence of their two quality batsmen in Manoj Tiwary (injured) and Wriddhiman Saha who is doing the national duty.
The bowling department without Mohammad Shami, who is now an India regular, is also struggling and it remains to be seen how the likes of Shib Shankar Paul and Ashok Dinda use the green surface to their favour.
In fact, it looks to be advantage Uttar Pradesh who boast of a formidable pace attack in former India seamer RP Singh, Imtiaz Ahmed and rookie Amit Mishra who has picked 13 wickets from three matches including 7/59 against Rajasthan.
In batting, Mohammad Kaif's slump in form would be a concern but fresh from a bonus point victory against Services, the Piyush Chawla-captained side will pose a big challenge for Bengal.
Uttar Pradesh lead the group table with 20 points on basis of a better NRR against Railways as they have a bright chance to finish among top three to make the last eight.
Desperate Delhi waiting for Viru to fire against Vidarbha
Desperate Delhi waiting for Viru to fire against Vidarbha
New Delhi: In their bid to stay on course for a quarter-final berth, hosts Delhi will come out all guns blazing against Vidarbha for an outright win in a Ranji Trophy group league encounter at the Roshanara ground here tomorrow.
Delhi who are placed fifth in group A, are on 12 points from five games while Vidarbha on 11 points are a rung below. On paper, Delhi are a formidable outfit with skipper Gautam Gambhir and senior pro Mithun Manhas in good touch having scored 409 and 419 runs respectively.
However Delhi's problem has been Virender Sehwag's poor run of form which has now stretched to 8 consecutive innings with only 113 runs to show for his effort with highest score of 44 in an inconsequential second innings. His skipper Gautam Gambhir is not really perturbed by his former opening partner's poor form.
"Viru has been hitting the ball well in the nets and is one knock away from a big score. When he scores, it is normally a big hundred. I am not bothered about his form. As far as his batting number is concerned, it is his personal call," Gambhir told PTI during an interaction today.
Sehwag didn't train at the nets today but chief coach Sanjeev Sharma said that the veteran opener will be playing. "Viru felt a little bit feverish today and that's why he skipped the nets. He is certainly playing tomorrow," Sharma said.
While there are two pitches that has been prepared for this match, the final decision on the bowling line-up will be taken tomorrow. If they play on the green-top which has been prepared, they might go with an all-pace attack which might have rookie paceman Navdeep Saini making his first-class debut alongside trio of Ashish Nehra, Sumit Narwal and Parvinder Awana.
21-year-old right arm seamer Saini has impressed skipper Gautam Gambhir in the nets but the final call will be taken tomorrow. In case Delhi opts for a hard-bouncy wicket with less grass, then left-arm spinner Varun Sood will continue in the playing XI.
The batting line-up looks more or less fixed with Unmukt Chand opening with Gambhir followed by Sehwag and Manhas. Vaibhav Rawal and Rajat Bhatia will come in at Nos 5 and 6 respectively while glovesman Rahul Yadav will be at No 7.
For Vidarbha, their hopes will be pinned on Faiz Fazal who has scored 571 runs so far and Shalabh Srivastava who has got 446 runs. Their outstation recruits Hemang Badani and Rashmi Ranjan Parida have come cropper this season failing to get even 200 runs.
