Aiming for the full monty

KOCHI: After bagging six crucial points from the first two drawn encounters, an upbeat Keralaface Tripurain their second home match at Conor Vayal Stadium, Thalassery on Friday.
The hosts, now fourth in the points table, would be aiming nothing less than an outright win against Tripura to enhance their quarterfinal prospects.
Tripura, who are yet to open their account in the current season, are considered as the favourite whipping boys of Group 'C' but Keralaneed to avoid complacency as the visitors would be planning to catch the hosts off guard.
Batting seems the way for Kerala this season as it has given them upper hand in the first two games. With 377 runs from three innings, Sanju Samson holds the key for hosts yet again.
Wicketkeeper batsman and opener Nikhilesh Surendran, in-form Robert Fernandez and skipper Sachin Baby add solidity to the batting line-up. Opener VA Jagadeesh, who failed in the first twogames, would be hoping to bat himself into form against Tripura.
Kerala, however, have issues to address in the bowling department. Left-arm pacer Prasanth Parameswaran, who has six wickets in his kitty this season, has impressed as the pace spearhead.
But Sandeep Warrier, who bowled brilliantly in the last season, is yet to find his rhythm this season but team management may just back him for one more game.
Kerala may once again go with their three-spinner strategy against Tripura too. Though the flat Thalassery track did not offer anything special for the bowlers, hard work put in by Vinoop Manoharan and CP Shahid brought in high dividends for the hosts.
P Prasanth, who was rested for the season opener against Assam, was not amongst the wickets against Andhra but his 80-ball 68 in first innings played its part in Kerala's 55-run first innings lead over Andhra. But with another left-arm orthodox spinner K Sreejith in squad, it would be interesting to see if hosts replace Prasanth with Sreejith.
On the other hand, Tripura's batting will depend heavily on experienced wicketkeeper batsman Yogesh Takawale, who scored two centuries in both innings against Maharashtrain the season opener.
But Tripura batting suffered adramatic collapse in the second game against Himachal Pradesh and they would be keen to make amends in Thalassery.
In Tripura bowling, all eyes will be once again on right-arm off-spinner Viki Saha. Saha, who made his first class debut against Himachal last week, picked up five wickets in HP's first innings and was very impressive in his first game.
Kerala coach Sujith Somasunder hoped his team would build on the start they have got this season. "Though Tripura lost their first two matches, we are watchful and hope to come up with a decent effort.
As far the final eleven is concerned, we are yet totake a decision and will finalise the playing eleven in the morning," said Sujith.