JOIN USGiven their fast bowling strength, Karnataka skipper and pace spearhead R Vinay Kumar made no bones about the kind of surface they would like for their Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai from Sunday.
“It’s a good 50-50 wicket,” said Vinay, indicating that the pitch will have something for everybody. “Right now, we are on top of the table and they are second, so we don’t want to take any risks. The kind of bowling attack we have, we need a green-top (wicket). There is grass on the wicket and on the first two days it may help the seamers and then it will be a good batting track,” he remarked.
The captain also played down inconsistency in both bowling and batting. “See, it’s always a team effort,” he pointed out. “We are playing very good teams and it is difficult for everyone to get wickets (all the time). Our goal is to help each other; one will keep it tight and other will get the wickets. That has been happening from the first game. Batting too is the same, but most of them have failed to make it big. They are working on it and hopefully in the coming games they will get runs,” he reasoned.
Mumbai skipper Jaffer hoped to earn three points from this match. “We are at the business end of the tournament and Karnataka are topping the group,” he noted. “If we manage to get three points, it will give lots of confidence to the team as it’s a very young side. And if we manage to beat Karnataka, it gives us lots of confidence going into the knock-outs. So we will go in to this match on a very positive note. When you are going into knockouts, you want to go with a good momentum.”