Problem of plenty for Karnataka

 With a draw and a victory in their first two games, Karnataka have got off to a decent start in this edition of the Ranji Trophy.

Despite the absence of some of the big names, the eight-time champions produced a collective effort to gather 10 points from two games. But ahead of their upcoming matches, the return of their senior players might give Karnataka a problem of plenty as far as the team combination is concerned.

Karnataka next take on Assam at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai from Thursday. Skipper R Vinay Kumar, who missed the second match against Delhi in Kolkata due to a calf injury, will probably be back to lead the side. Along with Vinay, India international K L Rahul, who was nursing a hamstring injury, is also likely to be available for the tie. 

Thanks to the riches at their disposal, Karnataka never looked like a team in dearth of talent or experience in their first two matches. Youngsters Mir Kaunain Abbas and K Gowtham were impressive while the seasoned S Arvind, coming into the side for Vinay, put up a terrific performance against Delhi.

Should Rahul return, the promising Abbas, who have struck three half-centuries in as many innings, might have to make way for the senior batsman. It remains to be seen who will be benched for Vinay’s inclusion. Though it’s a good problem to have, Karnataka head coach J Arun Kumar felt it’s a tough spot to be in.

“I am in the toughest spot. That’s when you don't want be the coach,” Arun said after Karnataka’s innings and 160 runs win over Delhi on Saturday.

While Rahul’s availability is not confirmed yet, Arun said Vinay looked ready for the next game. “Vinay should be available for the next match. He will be involved in some training for the next two days,” he said.

Arun said the players understood the importance of seniors being in the side. “When Rahul and Manish (Pandey) come back, some players will have to sit out. The best part is everyone in the side is very mature. They know that these players have contributed a lot for Karnataka and they respect that,” he offered.

Pandey, who is currently in the Indian one-day international side for the ongoing five-match series against New Zealand, might be available for Karnataka’s fourth game against Vidarbha in Vadodara.

Assistant coach Mansur Ali Khan said Karnataka will look to try out their bench strength once they assure themselves of a knockout berth. “With the neutral venue system, we are always on wheels and it is very demanding. Once we cross the 25-30 point mark, we will rest some bowlers and explore our bench strength.”

Ranji trophy Scores

Group A

At Bilaspur: Bengal: 404 all out in 120.3 overs and (O/n: 182/5): 226 all out in 64.5 overs (AR Easwaran 25, Manoj Tiwary 92, PP Shaw 29, Shreevats Goswami 25; Siddarth Kaul 6-57, Sandeep Sharma 2-69) bt Punjab: 271 all out 81.3 overs and 244 all out in 72.3 overs (Manan Vohra 75, Jiwanjot Singh 44, Yuvraj Singh 26; Ashok Dinda 2-59, Amit Kuila 3-93, Pragyan Ojha 4-70). Bengal: 6 points: Punjab: 0.

At Rohtak: Gujarat: 187 all out 56.4 overs and: 437/7 decl in 103.3 overs bt Railways: 124 all out in 43.5 overs and (O/n: 171/4): 206 all out in 77.2 overs (AN Ghosh 36, Mahesh Rawat 54, SP Wakaskar 34; Rush Kalaria 3-30, IH Chaudhary 3-29). Gujarat: 6; Railways: 0.   

At Raipur: Madhya Pradesh: 445 all out 160 overs drew with Mumbai (O/n: 290/5): 568/7 decl in 184.1 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 153, Suryakumar Yadav 41, Aditya Tare 80, Tushar Deshpande 62, Siddesh Lad 100 not out, Abhishek Nayar 103 not out; Ishwar Pandey 3-122, Ankit Sharma 3-138). Mumbai: 3; Madhya Pradesh: 1.   

At Dharamsala: Uttar Pradesh: 524 all out 158 overs and 114/1 in 49 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 59 not out, Ekalavya Dwivedi 25, Mohammad Saif 30) drew Tamil Nadu (O/n: 398/6): 480 all out in 133 overs (Abhinav Mukund 154, Kaushik Gandhi 37, Baba Indrajith 127 not out; AS Rajpoot 4-120, Saurabh Kumar 2-96). Uttar Pradesh: 3; Tamil Nadu: 1.

Group B

At Thumba: Vidarbha (O/n: 254/3): 416 all out in 142.2 overs drew with Assam (O/n: 98/3): 227 all out in 90.1 overs (PP Das 37, RG Hazarika 34, S Purkayastha 44; Akshay Wakhare 2-71, Aditya Sarwate 5-72) and F/o: 39/2 in 39 overs (RG Hazarika 33 not out). Vidharbha: 3; Assam: 1. 

At Vadodara: Jharkhand: 209 all out 73.5 overs and: 277 all out in 76.5 overs bt Rajasthan: 207 all out in 83.2 overs and (O/n: 67/3): 237 all out in 90.5 overs (Puneet Yadav 44, MK Lomror 32, Rajat Bhatia 26, Chetan Bist 26, Aniket Chaudhary 32; Shahbaz Nadeem 5-94, Sunny Gupta 2-51, AR Yadav 2-29). Jharkhand: 6; Rajasthan: 0.  

At Vizianagaram: Saurashtra: 657/8 decl in 170.5 overs drew with Maharashtra: 182 all out in 56.2 overs and F/o (O/n): 345/8 in 130 overs (MS Trunkwala 117, Anikt Bawne 60, Chirag Khurana 44, Vishant More 39; DS Punia 2-86, D Jadeja 4-64). Saurashtra: 3; Maharashtra: 1.     

Group C

At Mumbai: Jammu & Kashmir: 334 all out in 153 overs and (O/n: 31/2): 111 all out in 55 overs (SP Khajuria 49; BA Bhatt 5-60, DP Vijaykumar 3-16) lt to Andhra: 255 all out in 99 overs and 194 all out in 49.3 overs (KS Bharat 31, DB Ravi Teja 50, AG Pradeep 27, K Ashwin Hebbar 27; R Dayal 2-26, Parvez Rasool 4-55). Andhra: 6; Jammu & Kashmir: 0.  

At Guwahati: Haryana: 178 all out in 54.1 overs and 289 all out in 92 overs bt Chhattisgarh: 189 all out in 78.2 overs and (O/n: 50/6): 117 all out in 44 overs (Mohit Sharma 5-27, Harshal Patel 3-34). Haryana: 6; Chhattisgarh: 0.

At Cuttack: Goa: 606/6 decl in 165 overs drew with Services: (O/n: 267/7): 279 all out in 107.1 overs (Ravi Chauhan 47, Rahul Singh 89, Nakul Verma 29, Muzzaffaruddin 48, RG Pathania 29, DG Pathania 32; RR Singh 3-79, Shadab Jakati 3-47, FB Alemao 4-56) and 188/4 in 68 overs (AH Gupta 64 not out, G Rahul Singh 70 not out; SS Bandekar 3-30). Goa: 3; Services: 1.    

At Kalyani: Tripura: 549 all out in 162.2 overs drew with Himachal Pradesh: 311 all out in 97.2 overs and F/o (O/n: 19/1): 349/5 in 80 overs (Ankit Bains 113, P Chopra 51, N Gangta not out 64, Rishi Dhawan 54; Gurinder Singh 4-96). Tripura: 3; Himachal Pradesh: 1. 

At Bhubaneswar: Kerala: 506 all out in 180 overs drew with Hyderabad (O/n: 231/7): 281 all out in 97.3 overs (BP Sandeep 53, AA Bhandari 40, PA Reddy 37, B Anirudh 30, AA Bhandari 40, M Hassan 58; Sandeep Warrior 3-57, KS Monish 3-56, Jalaj S Saxena 2-48) and F/o: 220/3 in 69 overs (B Anirudh 120 not out, PA Reddy 27, S Badrinath 39). Kerala: 3; Hyderabad: 1.