JOIN USUnconquered in the tournament so far, Vijay Hazare Trophy champions Karnataka would look to ensure that their campaign culminates in a title triumph when they square off against India B in the Deodhar Trophy final, here on Thursday.
Karnataka beat both India 'A' and India 'B' to make the final of the 50-over event. India 'B' stumbled against Karnataka after brushing aside India 'A' in the tournament opener.
The final is expected to be an absorbing affair, just like it was when the two teams met on Monday, when Karnataka eked out a six-run win.
India 'B' were cruising towards the 297-run target but Karnataka fought back in the nick of time to clinch the issue.
Manoj Tiwary has been the in-form batsman for India 'B', having scored 120 in the last game, albeit, in a losing cause. Hanuma Vihari had smashed 95 off 76 balls in the first game against India A.
Pacer Siddharth Kaul has been the stand out bowler for India 'B' with five wickets in two games. It will be another opportunity for Umesh Yadav to impress the national selectors as he looks to cement his place in the limited-overs side.
Umesh and Co will have to watch out for Karnataka batsman R Samarth who has been in top form in the tournament with scores of 117 and 85.
Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal and off-spinner K Gowtham, who grabbed four against India 'A', are expected to be Karnataka's trump cards again.
Karnataka will also have to address a few issues with their batting order though. Skipper Karun Nair hasn't exactly set the stage on fire at his newest batting order -- opening slot. It rightfully belongs to Samarth, a specialist opener who has done little wrong to be demoted down the order, and it will serve both the batsmen and the team well if Nair returns to his middle-order slot.
Karnataka will be hoping their batsman of the season -- Mayank Agarwal -- returns to his run-making ways. While the opener hasn't exactly been a failure in the two matches so far -- 44 and 22 -- given his prolific run this seaon, this ought to be a lean patch!
The squads: India B: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Akshdeep Nath, Manoj Tiwary, Siddhesh Lad, Kona Bharat (wk), Jayant Yadav, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Umesh Yadav, Rajat Patidar.
Karanataka: Karun Nair (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Pavan Deshpande, Abhishek Reddy, Ravikumar Samarth, Stuart Binny, CM Gautam (wk), Sharath BR, Shreyas Gopal, K Gowtham, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ronit More, Pradeep T, Prasidh Krishna, J Suchith.