Irani Cup: Karnataka aim to best Rest of India

BENGALURU: Four days after successfully defending their Ranji Trophy title, another huge challenge awaits holders Karnataka: a talented and strong Rest of India outfit seeking to wrest the Irani Cup from their grasp in a five-day contest starting on Tuesday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The Rest team comprises a number of India 'A' team players on the fringe of selection to the national senior team.While a few of these players have had a wonderful season, the others, despite a rather average season, have enjoyed the support of selectors who have placed faith in their talent. Skipper Manoj Tiwary, with 349 runs at a fairly pedestrian average of 26.8, acknowledged as much when he admitted that he wasn't exactly happy with the way things have gone this season. "I hope I can step up and deliver a lot better," he said.
For Himachal Pradesh's batsman Paras Dogra the main battle to tackle would be that of perception. His four centuries in an aggregate of 813 at an average of 135.5 came in group C where second rung teams languish. But that could hardly be held against him particularly as the quality of opposition was not his choice. He has made handsome runs against all adversaries thrown at him and a good showing against the Karnataka bowling attack, arguably the best in the country, would vindi cate the 30-year-old's accomplishments these past few seasons.
Rest XI have a number of other batsmen worth watching. Wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, A who had a brilliant India 'A' tour of Australia last year when he made 430 runs, Delhi's Unmukt Chand and Maharashtra's Kedar Jadhav are batsmen of ability who could be expected to take the battle to Karnataka.
Rest's mix of bowlers too is pretty striking. The pacy Varun Aaron could be a nasty customer on a helpful track while Mumbai's Shardul Thakur, the joint top wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy with Karnataka skipper R Vinay Kumar (48 wickets apiece), has been impressive right through the season.
The Karnataka team, as has been its wont of late, could go in with a four-man seam attack considering that Vinay, Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Arvind have been remarkably successful in bowling out opponents. HS Sharath, returning to the playing XI after a while, did quite well in the Ranji Trophy final and would be expected to keep the pressure on the batsmen.
Karnataka, however, are hampered by the absence through injury of their key batsman KL Rahul. But Robin Uthappa, the season's top run-getter with 912 runs (average 50.66) would be around, as would Karun Nair, one of the more exciting prospects, the talented stroke-player Manish Pandey, young promising opener R Samarth and Shreyas Gopal, a dynamic allrounder.