Ranji Trophy: Karnataka ready for UP challenge

BENGALURU: A new format with fewer league matches and first-ever break between the league and knockouts phase, the Ranji Trophy witnessed an overhaul this season. But one constant is the desire and hunger of teams to lay their hands on the coveted domestic trophy.
On Monday, eight teams will begin their quest for glory as the quarterfinals get under way at four venues here.Eight-time champions Karnataka will face Uttar Pradesh, while Mumbai, an enviable 41-time winners, take on Uttarakhand. In the other two fixtures, Bengal are up against Jharkhand and Punjab square off against Madhya Pradesh.
Karnataka, who are in the process of rebuilding their pace unit, will face a stiff challenge from Uttar Pradesh. While the hosts' strength lies in their formidable batting line-up, UP is backed by the strength of their pace attack.
The Karnataka batting unit is led by the experience of Mayank Agarwal, skipper Manish Pandey, Karun Nair and R Samarth. The form of KV Siddharth, their highest run-getter in the league with 358 runs, augurs well for them. With Devdutt Padikkal and D Nischal too in the mix, picking the right combination will be the key.
Asked about the batting combination, head coach Yere Goud said, "In the league stage Most of the batsmen scored runs in the league stage, so there is a competition for the places in the team. We will take a call (on the team composition) depending on the wicket."
On a surface which is a little dry and expected to turn as the match progresses, Karnataka will bank on the dependable off-spinner K Gowtham and leggie Shreyas Gopal to deliver. With J Suchith and KC Cariappa too in the line-up, they have enough spin ammunition.
The area of concern remains the pace unit, led by Ronit More, who has featured in 31 first-class matches and picked up 97 wickets. Medium-pacer V Koushik, who received a late call-up in place of the England-bound Prasidh Krishna, will be keen to repay the team's faith in him. The other three greenhorns —Vyshak Vijaykumar, Vidhwath Kaverappa and M Venkatesh —will have their task cut out if they make the playing XI.
The inexperience notwithstanding, bowling coach Sreenath Arvind was confident the pacers will deliver. "The youngsters may not have played much first-class cricket, but they come in with experience from the U-25 competition. They know the lengths they need to bowl and have studied the batsmen's weaknesses as well," the former left-arm pacer pointed out.
Priyam Garg, Rinku Singh and Samarth Singh will shoulder the batting workload for UP, while Saurabh Kumar and all-rounder Karan Sharma are likely to be their chief spinners.
Old warhorse Ankit Rajpoot will lead the pace battery along with the in-form Yash Dayal. Aaqib Khan can be dangerous and they also have the option of playing the promising Jasmer Dhankhar.
RAIN THREAT
Apart from the opposition, the biggest cause of concern for the teams will be the rain threat that looms large on the competition. With the onset of monsoon in south-western India, the first three days have a rain probability of above 60 percent and making the situation grimmer is the yellow alert issued in Karnataka with heavy rains predicted.
In the event of the Karnataka vs UP match being rained out, the former will go through by virtue of more wins in the league phase.
WINNING CALCULATION
In the event of the matches being rained out, according to the BCCI rule book (16.9.6), the winners will be decided by the following equations.
1. Most wins up to the previous game including the league phase.
2. In the event of the above being equal, then the team which has won the match against each other in the league will go through.
3. If the winner is still undecided then, the run quotient will come into effect with the team with the higher run quotient advancing.
4. If the winner is still not decided, then the winner will be decided by the spin of the coin.
QUARTERFINAL LINE-UP
Bengal vs Jharkhand (Just Cricket ground); Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh (Alur 1); Mumbai vs Uttarakhand (Alur 2); Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh (Alur 3).