Irani Trophy: Stiff test for seniors Harbhajan, Gambhir as Rest of India face Ranji champions Karnataka
Bangalore: Veterans Harbhajan Singh and Gautam Gambhir face a stern test as the duo will aim at resurrecting their international careers when Rest of India take on Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka in the Irani Cup, here tomorrow.
All eyes will be on Harbhajan and Gambhir as they would be itching to show the national selectors that they are still good enough to perform at the highest level.
With Ravichandran Ashwin's lack of skills while bowling in unfamiliar conditions against better batting sides being thoroughly exposed, its time that Harbhajan pulls up all the 'tweaker's tricks' up his sleeves against a quality batting line-up.
Harbhajan will be itching to perform against a side that boasts of domestic heavyweights like Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey along with latest batting sensation Lokesh Rahul and young Karun Nair.
Similarly for Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay's inconsistent performances means that he is very much in the mix. A solid knock against the pace trio of Abhimanyu Mithun, R Vinay Kumar and Sreenath Aravind will boost his confidence and keep him in the selection fray.
The game is expected to be an interesting one with some of the top performers in domestic cricket ready to battle it out there in the middle.
Kedar Jadhav's performance will be certainly monitored with a lot of interest by Sandip Patil and Co. With 1,223 runs in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy including a stroke-filled century in the final, the 28-year-old Maharashtra batsman would also be eyeing for a revenge having failed to win the national title.
Jadhav vs Rahul will be an interesting battle as the top two run-getters fight it out to assert their supremacy.
Similarly, Pankaj Singh and Ashoke Dinda, who have consistently done well for their respective states Rajasthan and Bengal, will be aiming to do well keeping a long season in mind. For Pankaj, it will practically be his last chance to grab selectors' attention.
