JOIN USApart from veteran Abhimanyu Mithun, the pace trio of Ronit More, Prateek Jain and V Koushik had a combined experience of 26 games in first-class cricket going into the crucial Group B Ranji Trophy game against Mumbai here at the Bandra Kurla Complex ground.
At the start of the season, lack of depth in pace bowling was one of Karnataka’s concerns. Though one match performance can be deceiving, Karnataka can take heart from the excellent effort from the four-pronged pace attack in their five-wicket win against Mumbai. Together, the fast bowling unit picked up 18 wickets from two innings to bundle out their opponents for paltry totals of 194 and 149.
Captain Karun Nair, who stressed on team spirit ahead of the game, was pleased with how the pacers stepped up in a tough battle. “This surface helped the bowlers. Our bowlers did really well to get them all out in both innings for cheap totals,” Nair told reporters on Sunday.
“There was a lot of grass on the pitch. Since it was an early start and in case we win the toss, we would have an advantage with four fast bowlers. Luckily we won the toss. All said and done, credit goes to our bowlers. Even if you win the toss, you still need to take wickets,” he said.
It augurs well for the attack that it excelled against a line-up that had the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare and Suryakumar Yadav. More than the Mumbai batsmen’s failure, it’s his bowlers’ success that needs to be highlighted, felt Nair. “Look they are big names but we have also got good bowlers who can get any batsman out. Credit should go to our bowlers for bowling good balls to get those big guns out,” he said.