Karnataka will rely on willow power

BENGALURU: In batting depth, few domestic teams can match the might of Karnataka. As the eight-time champions begin their Ranji Trophy campaign against Jharkhand on Thursday, they will look to put that batting power on display at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground.
R Vinay Kumar and his men will look to get off to a winning start against a team which is high on confidence.Pacer Varun Aaron-led Jharkhand come into the contest on the back of a six-wicket win in their season opener against Maharashtra.
It is unlikely that Karnataka will tinker much with their playing 11 although three uncapped players - Arjun Hoysala, Pavan Deshpande and Kaunain Abbas have been named in the squad of 16.
In-form Mayank Agarwal and R Samarth will open the innings with seasoned campaigner Robin Uthappa coming one down. Although the team will miss the services of the prolific Manish Pandey - who is in the Indian squad for the ODIs against New Zealand - Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, Stuart Binny and CM Gautam add muscle to the batting order. Karun, who was a part of the Indian team for the final Test in Indore, joined the state squad late on Tuesday night. Mayank, who scored 420 runs in three Duleep Trophy matches at the same venue, will look to carry forward the rich vein of form. The venue has proved a happy hunting ground for leggie Shreyas too, having picked up 14 wickets in two Duleep Trophy encounters.
It will be interesting to see the bowling combination Karnataka will field on a pitch which is expected to offer assistance to pacers in the first session. Abrar Kazi is expected to join Shreyas in the spin department, while Vinay will headline the pace attack. If Karnataka opt for three pacers, with Binny in the ranks, it will be a toss-up between left-arm pacer Sreenath Arvind and Abhimanyu Mithun.
Jharkhand will not be easy customers. Aaron, Shahbaz Nadeem and Saurabh Tiwary will weigh in with experience while much is expected from talented youngsters like Ishan Kishan, Ishank Jaggi, Virat Singh and Kaushal Singh.
Round II: Group A: At Lahli: Madhya Pradesh vs Punjab; At Jaipur: Uttar Pradesh vs Bengal; At Bilaspur: Railways vs Tamil Nadu.
GROUP B: At Hyderabad: Odisha vs Saurashtra; At Mumbai: Maharashtra vs Delhi; At Noida: Jharkhand vs Karnataka; At Vizag: Team Rajasthan vs Assam
GROUP C: At Guwahati: Tripura vs Services; At Jamshedpur: Hyderabad vs Haryana; At Kolkata: Kerala vs Himachal; At Kalyani: Andhra vs Chhattisgarh; At Palam (New Delhi): Mumbai vs Baroda; At Surat: Goa vs Jammu and Kashmir.