Karnataka bank on batting at Ranji Trophy knockouts

Pace worries for hosts as they take on UP in quarterfinal

As Karnataka begin their Ranji Trophy knockouts on Monday with a quarterfinal clash against Uttar Pradesh, the contrast in their team composition couldn't be starker.

While Karnataka's batting is easily one of the best in domestic cricket in the country, the pace attack is perhaps the most inexperienced one. How the eight-time champions overcome this asymmetry in their make-up will define their campaign as they seek to end a four-year wait for their ninth title.

While the batting line-up, led by skipper Manish Pandey, has an embarrassment of riches jostling for places to be in the final 11, the state selectors had to scratch the bottom to cobble together a pace unit. The fact that they had to fall back on V Koushik to inject some experience exposes the dearth of quality new-ball bowlers in the state.

For the record, Koushik, with three first-class matches under his belt, is the second most experienced pacer in the team behind a seasoned Ronit More, who has had frequent injury concerns in the recent past.

Though it's a fact that Karnataka, to an extent, were hit hard by the retirements of R Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun, two of their finest servants for over a decade, the lack of replacements is telling. Vinay left Karnataka for Puducherry ahead of the 2019-20 season while Mithun announced a surprise retirement late last year, leaving them with More and M Prasidh Krishna, who is now an India regular.

There was a time when rival teams used to be in awe of Karnataka's pace resources with Vinay, Mithun and the team's current bowling coach S Arvind forming one of the finest pace attacks in domestic cricket. In case of non-availability of one of these first-choice bowlers, they had quality replacements in HS Sharath, whose once-promising career never reached its potential, and More, who even had to migrate to Himachal Pradesh for a season as he found it difficult to break into Karnataka side.

That said, it's a wonderful opportunity for the younger crop to rise up the ranks. The likes of V Vyshak, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Venkatesh M and Kishan Bedare, some of whom have impressed in the Vinoo Mankad Under-25 inter-state tournament, have an enviable chance of playing a Ranji Trophy knockout so early in their careers.

"The youngsters may not have played first-class cricket, but they come in with experience from the U-25 competition," pointed out Arvind.

"Vidhwath hasn’t played much (at this level) but Venkatesh has played a lot of U-25 matches. They know the lengths they need to bowl and have studied the batsmen’s weaknesses as well."

While a good show by a largely rookie attack will be a bonus, Karnataka will heavily bank on their rich batting and spin bowling resources to overcome the shortcomings in a televised match at Alur grounds near here.

They boast of a solid opening combo in R Samarth and Devdutt Padikkal who will be followed by KV Siddharth, Pandey and Karun Nair. The team management will have a big dilemma if Mayank Agarwal is available for selection.

With the hosts set to go in with five bowlers - three pacers and two spinners - the likely spin duo for the match, off-spinner K Gowtham and leggie Shreyas Gopal, will have to do their bit with the bat.

It's also high time the wicketkeeping duo of BR Sharath and Sharath Srinivas, whoever gets picked, did their bidding with the bat. They have survived the axe only because there hasn't been anyone pushing them out.