With an eye on defending their title, Karnataka will take on a resurgent Kerala in the quarterfinals of Vijay Hazare Trophy in New Delhi on Monday.
The R Samarth-led Karnataka, after losing their opening league match against Uttar Pradesh, scored convincing wins in the following four matches to top Group ‘C’. Kerala too won four matches and their only loss, a crushing nine-wicket defeat, was inflicted by Karnataka. Both teams ended up with 16 points, but Karnataka finished on top with a better run-rate.
At the Air Force ground in Palam, the contest will be between the batting powerhouses on either side. Karnataka’s middle-order has hardly been tested with the top order of openers Samarth (413 runs), Devdutt Padikkal (572) and KV Siddharth (241) scoring bulk of the runs. In fact, the trio accounted for 1226 of the 1453 runs scored by Karnataka in their five league outings.
Their batting has been further beefed up with the return of Manish Pandey and all-rounder K Gowtham. Pandey returns following a tennis elbow injury he sustained during India’s tour of Australia earlier this year. Gowtham was a net bowler for India during the Test series.
The return of the two seasoned campaigners will mean the winning combination will have to be tweaked. Either Aniruddha Joshi or Karun Nair could make way for Pandey, while spinner J Suchith is likely to make way for Gowtham.
Underlining the benefits of having the duo back, skipper Samarth said: “They have won almost all the tournaments that are in the BCCI calendar, so their inclusion is a huge bonus. They bring in a lot of experience and that is an advantage especially in the knockouts.”
Karnataka’s bowling has hinged on pacer Abhimanyu Mithun and spinners Shreyas Gopal and Suchith. The champion team was left sweating over the fitness of Mithun, who pulled his left quadriceps in the final league match. The team management will take a call on his participation before the toss. If Mithun is unavailable, then Prasidh, who has been inconsistent, will have to come out with his ‘A’ game.
Kerala, on the other hand, will be without an injured Sanju Samson, who has been replaced by Basil Tampi in the line-up.
Robin Uthappa has been the fulcrum of Kerala’s batting, scoring 375 runs with two centuries and as many half-centuries. He has been ably supported by V Govind and Vishnu Vinod. Kerala’s bowling, led by S Sreesanth (13 wickets), will be a cause for concern as they have stumbled and leaked runs at crucial junctures in the league.
QUOTE UNQUOTE
Devdutt (Padikkal) is going after every bowler. His runs speak for him. It is just mind-blowing to see the kind of hunger he has. He comes in and performs in every game for us.
R Samarth On Devdutt Padikkal
The R Samarth-led Karnataka, after losing their opening league match against Uttar Pradesh, scored convincing wins in the following four matches to top Group ‘C’. Kerala too won four matches and their only loss, a crushing nine-wicket defeat, was inflicted by Karnataka. Both teams ended up with 16 points, but Karnataka finished on top with a better run-rate.
At the Air Force ground in Palam, the contest will be between the batting powerhouses on either side. Karnataka’s middle-order has hardly been tested with the top order of openers Samarth (413 runs), Devdutt Padikkal (572) and KV Siddharth (241) scoring bulk of the runs. In fact, the trio accounted for 1226 of the 1453 runs scored by Karnataka in their five league outings.
Their batting has been further beefed up with the return of Manish Pandey and all-rounder K Gowtham. Pandey returns following a tennis elbow injury he sustained during India’s tour of Australia earlier this year. Gowtham was a net bowler for India during the Test series.
The return of the two seasoned campaigners will mean the winning combination will have to be tweaked. Either Aniruddha Joshi or Karun Nair could make way for Pandey, while spinner J Suchith is likely to make way for Gowtham.
Underlining the benefits of having the duo back, skipper Samarth said: “They have won almost all the tournaments that are in the BCCI calendar, so their inclusion is a huge bonus. They bring in a lot of experience and that is an advantage especially in the knockouts.”
Karnataka’s bowling has hinged on pacer Abhimanyu Mithun and spinners Shreyas Gopal and Suchith. The champion team was left sweating over the fitness of Mithun, who pulled his left quadriceps in the final league match. The team management will take a call on his participation before the toss. If Mithun is unavailable, then Prasidh, who has been inconsistent, will have to come out with his ‘A’ game.
Kerala, on the other hand, will be without an injured Sanju Samson, who has been replaced by Basil Tampi in the line-up.
Robin Uthappa has been the fulcrum of Kerala’s batting, scoring 375 runs with two centuries and as many half-centuries. He has been ably supported by V Govind and Vishnu Vinod. Kerala’s bowling, led by S Sreesanth (13 wickets), will be a cause for concern as they have stumbled and leaked runs at crucial junctures in the league.
QUOTE UNQUOTE
Devdutt (Padikkal) is going after every bowler. His runs speak for him. It is just mind-blowing to see the kind of hunger he has. He comes in and performs in every game for us.
R Samarth On Devdutt Padikkal