The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Tamil Nadu takes on Assam

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Friday, Mar 16, 2007
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Tamil Nadu takes on Assam

Principal Correspondent

DHARAMSHALA: Icy winds will provide a big challenge for the teams from the South — Tamil Nadu and Karnataka — as they prepare for the all-India inter-State one-day cricket championship here.

With the ICC World Cup already on in the West Indies, interest in the tournament is hardly perceptible, either with the organisers or the players.

"We have to live with this. There is no point harping about such scheduling," said the Karnataka coach, Venkatesh Prasad. "The weather is a bit severe, but there is no room to complain," he added.

Dharamshala had heavy rains and snowfall for four days, but the downpour stopped on Wednesday. This has helped the ground staff get the HPCA ground ready for Friday's match between Tamil Nadu and Assam, the surprise winner of the East Zone leg.

Four changes

Tamil Nadu begins as the favourite in this pre-quarterfinal tie, but the players will have to show enough spirit to withstand the icy weather. Tamil Nadu has made four changes to the team that played in the zonal tournament.

Amarnath, Yo Mahesh, S. Suresh Kumar and Gopinath have come in place of R. Jesuraj, R. Sathish, C. Suresh and M. Vikram. The winner of the tie will face Uttar Pradesh in the quarterfinals.

On Saturday, Karnataka meets Bengal in an interesting contest between two evenly-balanced sides. K. P. Appanna has replaced Amit Verma in the only change in the Karnataka line-up. For Bengal, Ashok Dinda has come in for P. Mukherjee.

The winner of the Karnataka-Bengal match will play Rajasthan in the quarterfinals to be held in New Delhi. The semifinals and final will be played at Jaipur after Mohali, the original venue, opted out.

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