The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : A tough ask for Karnataka

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 22, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

A tough ask for Karnataka

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, DEC. 21. In the past a formidable challenger to Bombay in the Ranji Trophy, Karnataka's fortunes have declined and its reputation as a fierce competitor has taken a beating in recent times. This year it has struggled to find its bearings right through the five matches in the Elite Group A league.

It has arrived here not to challenge Mumbai's position in the leader board, but to grab half chances should they come its way and be on the plus side in the first innings at least and go flat out in the preliminary round finish against Railways.

Karnataka is fourth behind Gujarat and Delhi (8 points each) and even leaving the Wankhede with two points would bring it the much needed cheer before it can probably call the shots against Railways in the home fixture.

Mumbai, with 17 points, has already qualified for the semifinal.

Karnataka's bowlers have taken 77 wickets, which is not a bad at all. Among the seamers Vinay Kumar has been the most impressive taking 19 wickets. N. C. Aiyappa and Dodda Ganesh have 10 and 13 to their credit.

Left arm spinner Sunil Joshi has done well with a haul of 22. What all this means is that Karnataka's batsmen have to rise to the occasion. There is a fair sprinkling of talent in the dashing opener Robin Uthappa, Barrington Rowland (528 runs from 5 matches) and Thilak Naidu.

The home team is sitting pretty, having taken five points each from Bengal, Andhra and Gujarat. Wilkin Mota will replace Ajit Agarkar, who has 18 wickets before leaving for Dhaka for the one-day series. Mumbai's three spinners too have delivered the goods. And for the first time in three years, its batsmen have clicked. Opener Wasim Jaffer has cracked two.

The teams:

Mumbai (from): Sairaj Bahutule (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Vinayak Mane, Vinit Indulkar, Amol Muzumdar, Nishit Shetty, Ramesh Powar, Vinayak Samant, Wilkin Mota, Usman Malvi, Nilesh Kulkarni, Santosh Shinde, Bhavin Thakkar, Rajesh Verma, Abhijit Shetye.

Karnataka (from): Sujith Somasundar (captain), Barrington Rowland, Robin Uthappa, Thilak Naidu, Sudhindra Shinde, Deepak Chougule, Sunil Joshi, Dodda Ganesh, Udit Patel, Stuart Binny, N.C. Aiyappa, Santosh Vadeyaraj, R. Vinay Kumar, C. Raghu, Vinayak Uthappa.

Umpires: Messrs: S. C. Gupta and H. S. Sekhon.

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