The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Karnataka hopes to salvage pride

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Monday, Dec 17, 2007
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Karnataka hopes to salvage pride

Principal Correspondent

Bangalore: Delhi is keen on securing its semifinal spot while Karnataka hopes to salvage pride as the two gear up for their Ranji Trophy Pool A Super League clash at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here from Monday.

Delhi leads Pool A with 17 points from five matches and Maharashtra, Mumbai and Saurashtra (15 points each) are snapping at its heels. Karnataka, after suffering a three-run defeat against Saurashtra at Mysore, is in the bottom half of the table with nine points from five outings.

The difference in stature also reflected in the statements made by the rival camps.

No underestimating

Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya said that his team will not under-estimate Karnataka but is keen to get crucial points that will ensure a semi-final berth. “Our chances of making it to the semifinals will brighten if we do well in this match,” Dahiya said.

Karnataka coach Vijay Bharadwaj hoped that his team would bat well. “We should also get a first innings lead and that will help the confidence of the side as we will eventually play in the one-dayers later,” Bharadwaj said.

The host, led by Yere Goud, has announced two changes in its team with seamer S. Dhananjaya stepping in for an injured N.C. Aiyappa and Devraj Patil replacing Sudhindra Shinde in the middle-order. There was also speculation over Robin Uthappa, who is reportedly unwell.

While Karnataka rues its batting lows, Delhi is riding high on a top-order that has fired with captain Mithun Manhas, Shikar Dhawan, Akash Chopra and Rajath Bhatia finding the runs though an injured Gautam Gambhir will be missed.

Delhi’s batting strength has also been backed by an eager clutch of bowlers. Left arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan, seamer Parvinder Avana, with a Ranji hat-trick under his belt and leg spinner Chetanya Nanda have all done well this season.

“The bowlers are keen to learn and I am happy with their progress. Ashish Nehra is here with the team as he is doing his rehabs but he won’t play,” said Manoj Prabhakar, Delhi’s bowling coach. Dahiya mentioned that the pitch was dry and said that ‘it looked dicey’ while curator Narayan Raju termed it as a ‘batting wicket’.

The teams:

Karnataka: Yere Goud (captain), Robin Uthappa, K.B. Pawan, Bharath Chipli, Thilak Naidu, Sunil Joshi, Vinay Kumar, N.C. Aiyappa, K.P. Appanna, Devraj Patil, C. Raghu, S. Dhananjaya, Udit Patel, Amit Verma and Manish Pandey. Coach: Vijay Bharadwaj; Physio: Muthu Kumar; Manager: K. Jeshwanth.

Delhi: Mithun Manhas (captain), Amit Bhandari, Gautam Gambhir, Shikar Dhawan, Akash Chopra, Rajath Bhatia, Virat Kohli, Mayank Tehlan, Gaurav Chabra, Pradeep Sangwan, Puneet Bisht, Aditya Jain, Narendra Singh, Parwinder Awana and Chaitanya Nanda. Coach: Vijay Dahiya; Assistan coach: Ajit Chouwdhary; Bowling coach: Manoj Prabhakar; Manager: Manoj Kapoor; Physio: B. Prathi.

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