The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Delhi aims to redeem itself

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 13, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Delhi aims to redeem itself

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 12. Delhi will look for redemption as it prepares to take on a determined Karnataka in a crucial Elite Group Ranji Trophy match starting at the Jamia Millia ground here on Monday.

Without a victory to its credit and the danger of failing to make the semifinal grade quite real, Delhi faces a test of character. Not that Karnataka will be found wanting on any front and that promises to enhance the competitive flavour of the contest on a pitch that is likely to favour the slow bowlers.

Delhi's experiments with seamers have not fetched the desired results, hence the idea of fielding three spinners in this match. Off-spinner Sarandeep Singh, not at his best but looking to have regained his confidence in the last match against Madhya Pradesh, will have the trusted Rahul Sanghvi, the left-spinner having performed the best with 14 wickets to his credit this season.

The possibility of the lanky leg-spinner Chetanya Nanda making his debut adds variety to the Delhi attack.

As coach Madan Lal said, "We will look at playing three spinners once we know the nature of the pitch. But it would not be a bad idea to focus on spin in this match."

Delhi has shown a steady progress this season even though a victory has eluded the team after it lost the opportunity against Gujarat in the opening match.

The players realise the value of clinching full points from this encounter but Karnataka is equally determined to make a match of it.

Karnataka's strength

Karnataka is looking forward to substantial contributions from Sujith Somasunder, Barrington Rowland and Robin Uthappa, all capable batsmen with support from Deepak Chowgule and Sudheendra Shinde.

Left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, with 19 wickets this season, holds the key in bowling along with veteran fast bowler Dodda Ganesh. Keeping in mind the nature of the pitch, Karnataka is expected to leave out Vinay Uthappa, C. Raghu, Santosh Vadeyaraja and young fast bowler Vinay Kumar.

The teams (from):

Delhi : Ajay Jadeja (Captain), Aakash Chopra, Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay Dahiya, Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia, Abhinav Bali, Amit Bhandari, Sarandeep Singh, Rahul Sanghvi, Chaitanya Nanda, Kunal Lal, Varun Kumar, and Yogesh Sachdeva.

Karnataka: Sujit Somasunder (Captain), Robin Uthappa, Barrington Rowland, Thilak Naidu, Sudeendhra Shinde, Deepak Chowgale, Sunil Joshi, Dodda Ganesh, Vinay Kumar, N. C. Aiyappa, Stuart Binny, Udit Patel, Vinay Uthappa, C. Raghu and Santosh Vadeyaraj.

Umpires: Suhas Phadkar and R. S. Ranade; Match Referee: K. Menon.

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