Riveting contest on the cards

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In a battle of equals, Tamil Nadu host Karnataka in a Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday. Tamil Nadu, who had to grudgingly settle for a solitary point when their rain-marred season-opener against Odisha was abandoned after just 33.1 overs were possible in four days, would look to exploit the home conditions.

Karnataka also walk into the fixture with a single point in the bank after being outplayed by Baroda in their previous match.

Both teams would want to seize the initiative in order to put pressure on each other straightaway. Possessing batting-heavy line-ups, it wouldn’t be surprising if ‘win-toss-bat-first’ is the mantra both these teams adopt.

The hosts would miss the services of opener M. Vijay who is away on national duty. Nonetheless, talented batsman K.B. Arun Karthick could walk out with Abhinav Mukund in all probability. The TN middle-order, as usual, looks solid with the experienced duo S. Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik at the helm. Young gun B.

Aparajith would be itching to showcase his all-round talent in the first-class level. TN, though, would have to be wary of the incisive Karnataka bowling. Apart from Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun, the last year’s runners-up would have to tackle the tidy medium-pacers of Stuart Binny.

As for their batting, it had come a cropper last week. But then, Karnataka would be pleased with the way their robust opener Robin Uthappa was ready to bide his time at the crease —something which he seldom does.

Tamil Nadu coach V.B. Chandrasekhar reckons that Karnataka would be a hard nut to crack. “Karnataka have always been a competitive team to play against. In the past, there have been many intriguing battles between the two sides and I am sure this one would be no different. We need to be on top of our game,” said Chandrasekhar.

Asked if not spending a quality period on the park against Odisha would be a handicap, the former Indian cricketer said: “It was unfortunate that our opening game had to be abandoned. However, we did a lot of indoor training during our stay in Cuttack. I am positive that those sessions would hold us in good stead. We are going to approach the Karnataka fixture as if it is our season opener,”

Reflecting on the task in hand, Karnataka skipper Vinay was confidence personified. “I believe that our team is top-notch, if not the best. If we play to our potential, it would be hard to get past us. We aren’t too worried about playing TN in their own backyard,” said Vinay.

Teams

Tamil Nadu: L Balaji (c), KB Arun Karthick, Abhinav Mukund, S Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik (wk), R Prasanna, K Shri Vasudeva Das, B Aparajith, R Aushik Srinivas, V Yo Mahesh, J Kaushik, M Mohammed, M Ashwin, Malolan Rangarajan.

Karnataka: R Vinay Kumar (c), Robin Uthappa, KB Pawan, Ganesh Satish, Manish Pandey, Amit Verma, Stuart Binny, CM Gautam (wk), Sunil N Raju, Abhimanyu Mithun, KP Appanna, Kunal Kapoor, KL Rahul, Ronit More, SK Moinuddin.

Umpires: Pashchim Pathak and K. Hariharan.

3rd umpire: Sanjay S Hazare. Match referee: Sunil A Chaturvedi.
Note: Match will commence at 9.30am on first three days and 9.15am on the last day.