Karnataka bolstered by Vinay's return

Confident hosts look to continue good run in Group B encounter against Baroda

The tally gives ample evidence of a set of youngsters’ skill and desire to excel, individually and collectively and take their team to new heights. Last year, we have seen the same bunch of youngsters, then mere novices, carrying Karnataka to the final after more than a decade.

A few might have been tempted to attribute that glorious run to their luck, but performance of the Karnataka lads this season so far tells a different tale. Their charge to the top has been built assiduously around their willingness to work hard and wriggle out of demanding situations.

We have seen them coming up with some in-the-trenches efforts against Orissa and Himachal Pradesh to emerge victors. But when they face Baroda, the third-placed team in the group with 13 points, at the Gangotri Glades here from Wednesday, it offers a vastly different challenge.

Karnataka had inflicted a crushing defeat on Baroda when they met last time at the Moti Bagh stadium a year ago, but even the hosts will be aware of the fact that past results count for nothing in sports.

Baroda, aided by big-hitting Yusuf Pathan and in-form pacer Munaf Patel, have been in good form this season with the defeat against Uttar Pradesh being the only jarring point. But even without two of their biggest stars, Baroda cannot be taken lightly.

For Karnataka, regular skipper R Vinay Kumar will take over from Ganesh Satish in this match and the home side will have a three-fold benefit by Vinay’s return.

 The Davanagere man offers a fine package of being an astute bowler, a calm leader and a handy batsman down the order.

“Vinay can make a huge impact on the game with his bowling, captaincy and batting. His
experience of playing for the country and the State will stand in good stead for us against Baroda,” coach Sanath Kumar said.

Karnataka pace bowlers had the luxury of bowling in favourable conditions against Orissa at Bangalore and against Himachal Pradesh at Dharamsala. But the Gangotri pitch offers no such comfort for them as it appears to be loaded with runs. Vinay can make a difference here.

On such pitches, Vinay’s subtle variations can be of more danger to the batsmen than extreme pace. The presence of Vinay, who will come in for Aditya B Sagar, will be a huge boost for Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Arvind as they will have an experienced campaigner to rely on in times of crisis. “Vinay will tell us what went wrong in a particular session. It helps us a lot during the match,” said Mithun, who made a thunderous return to the wicket-taking ways in the match against HP with a five-wicket haul.

Karnataka will also welcome back CM Gautam, who had to sit out of the HP game with a sore knee.

The absence of a regular wicketkeeper had cost Karnataka a few runs in that game. Gautam’s batting too will add solidity to a top order that showed some signs of brittleness at various stages over the last three matches.

“Gautam made a crucial hundred against Orissa, and he has recovered well enough to play against Baroda.

Robin Uthappa too has recuperated well from a finger niggle that he had suffered while keeping against HP and he will open the innings in place of KL Rahul,” Sanath said.
With Manish Pandey and Stuart Binny too finding their touch, Karnataka will be aiming for full points against Baroda.

Team (from): Karnataka: R Vinay Kumar (capt), Robin Uthappa, KB Pawan, Ganesh Satish, Manish Pandey, Amit Verma, CM Gautam, Stuart Binny, Sunil Joshi, A Mithun, S Arvind, Udit Patel, KL Rahul, Aditya Sagar, Sunil N Raju.

Baroda: Pinal Shah (capt), Kedar Devdhar, Ambati Rayudu, Utkarsh Patel, Ajitesh Argal, Bhargav Bhatt, Abhimanyu Chauhan, Jaykishen Kolsawala, Rakesh Solanki, Swapnil Singh, Murtuja Vahora, Sankalp Vahora, Connor Williams.

Time: 9.30 am onwards

Other Super Leaguematches: Group A:

At Guwahati: Assam vs Gujarat.
At Delhi: Delhi vs Railways.
At Rajkot: Saurashtra vs Bengal.
At Chennai: Tamil Nadu vs Mumbai.
Group B:  At Rohtak: Haryana vs Punjab.
At Cuttack: Orissa vs Himachal Pradesh