Their confidence sky-high after an outstanding run in the South Zone one-day tournament last month, a buoyant Karnataka will begin their quest for the Vijay Hazare Trophy against fellow high-fliers Saurashtra in the first of the quarterfinal clashes at the ACA-VDCA stadium on Wednesday.

One of only two undefeated teams in intra-zonal one-day competitions — apart from Vidarbha in Central Zone — C Raghu's men will believe the force is with them, though they are unlikely to take Saurashtra’s challenge lightly.
The relative lesser lights in West Zone have had a brilliant season, finishing behind Mumbai in the one-dayers apart from making the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy. Karnataka will not have forgotten their outright defeat at Saurashtra’s hands in the Ranji Trophy in Mysore in December, though Raghu denied they would try to settle scores.

‘Geared up’

“That's in the past,” the Karnataka captain said after a long work-out on Tuesday morning. “We are all up for the challenge, and ready for battle. I strongly believe we are one of the best one-day sides in the country, and we will aim to prove that over the next week or so.”

The profusion of youth hasn’t necessarily come at the expense of experience, Karnataka wearing a nice blend determined to prove that Raghu’s claim is no empty boast. Having failed at the first hurdle last year against Rajasthan, Karnataka are aware that the draw has been kind to them this time, and if they play anywhere close to potential, they can ease into the final because most of the other big names are stacked together in the other half.

Immediate target

That said, Vijay Bharadwaj’s wards will not look beyond their immediate target, which is Saurashtra. Karnataka are mindful of the profusion of left-handers in the Saurashtra line-up — spearheaded by the seasoned Sitanshu Kotak — and will debate long and hard on whether to stick with left-arm spinner KP Appanna to complement Sunil Joshi, or bring in leg-spinning all-rounder Amit Verma.  Spin should play a key part as the match progresses if Tuesday’s match between Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh is anything to go by, and Karnataka appear well equipped in that department.

Robin Uthappa’s return should bolster Karnataka further. Bharath Chipli, Raghu himself and Deepak Chougule all showed great touch during their all-conquering run in Chennai, while R Vinay Kumar is becoming something of an all-rounder, stacking up 196 runs to go with a country-high 13 wickets at 15.15. Advantage Karnataka, but Saurashtra certainly are no pushovers.

Teams (from):
Karnataka: C Raghu (capt), Robin Uthappa, Bharath Chipli, Deepak Chougule, B Akhil, Manish Pandey, Devraj T Patil, Sunil Joshi, R Vinay Kumar, CM Gautam, NC Aiyappa, A Mithun, KP Appanna, Amit Verma, Aditya Sagar.
Saurashtra: Jaydev Shah (capt), Sitanshu Kotak, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sagar Jogiyani, Pratik Mehta, Kamlesh Makwana, Kuldeep Rawal, Sandeep Maniar, Balkrishna Jadeja, Rakesh Dhruv, Jayesh Odedara, Ravindra Jadeja, Sheldon Jackson, Vishal Joshi, Chirag Pathak.

Umpires: Aniruddha Banerjee and Abhik Kumar Mitra (both Bengal). Third umpire: P Bhanuprakash (Andhra). Match referee: Umesh Kumar (Punjab).

Hours of play: 0900-1230 hours and 1315-end of play.