With two titles in their bag, Karnataka will look to set their Ranji record straight

BENGALURU: Karnataka have been the indomitable side in white-ball cricket this season and the pressure will be on them to deliver again when they begin their Ranji Trophy campaign against Tamil Nadu in Dindigul on December 9.


Having faltered in the semifinals the last two seasons, Karnataka will look to go the extra distance with a team that has a healthy mix of youth and experience.

Having played the shorter format over the past few months, the former champions will have to adjust to the demands of the longer format in quick time.

While the twin victories in Vijay Hazare and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy are confidence boosters, coach Yere Goud stressed that the change in format will necessitate tweaking of skills.

“It’s a different tournament, and the skill part comes into the picture. Negotiate the opening spell of good fast bowlers, play on turning tracks and for the bowlers to succeed on different pitches will be crucial,” he said on Thursday.

While the team will miss the services of Manish Pandey and KL Rahul for the opening contest, they have enough ammunition at the top of their batting order. On top of the list in their in-former opener Mayank Agarwal, who will be available for at least the first three matches before he heads off for national duty.

With Mayank being an inspirational figure for the youngsters in the line-up, Goud, a former skipper, hoped his influence would rub off on others.

“Mayank brings in a lot of experience and hopefully his confidence will rub off on the others. He will be great in helping players on how to approach a four-day game.”

On the other hand, in the absence of KV Siddharth, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, the middle-order looks a little fragile. But Goud is confident his batsman, irrespective of the order in which they play, will deliver.

“When a player gets an opportunity to bat, he needs to adapt and play in that position. Rohan Kadam, for example, is an opener but went out to bat at four or five and did well.”

THE BOWLING DEPARTMENT
With their mainstay bowlers Abhimanyu Mithun and Prasidh Krishna ruled out of the first match, the onus will be on Ronit More to lead the pack, which also includes rookie KS Devaiah and David Mathias, who is on a comeback trail.

“Most of our bowlers are outswing bowlers. So, we looked at someone who could get the ball in. Mithun and Prasidh could have done that but they are injured. So, we picked Devaiah to get that variety with the new ball,” explained Goud, who also emphasized on workload management of players.

Goud, along with the recently-retired Sreenath Arvind, took over the reins of the team last season and gave a good account of themselves. This season, Goud believes the coaches have gotten to know and understand the players better.

Clubbed in a highly competitive group alongside teams like Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Saurashtra and Baroda, there will be little margin for errors.

“It will be a challenge to qualify. We are in a tight group in which all the teams are good and not just Tamil Nadu, Mumbai or Saurashtra. But we have prepared well,” Goud said.