Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Karnataka hold the aces against Haryana

SURAT: Karnataka, who take on the Amit Mishra-led Haryana in the opening semifinal of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 on Friday, had a few anxious moments before qualifying for this stage of the competition. Despite finishing with three wins from four Super League stage games, Karnataka's berth was confirmed only during the Mumbai-Punjab clash on Wednesday. Mumbai had to defeat Punjab by atleast 93 runs to better the net run-rate (NRR) of Karnataka, but they won only by 22 runs.Karnataka's bowling coach Sreenath Aravind revealed that the team had nervy moments while watching the Mumbai game. "It was (nervous) and the team members were keen to know the exact numbers that will help us qualify," said Aravind.
Karnataka's passage to the semis may have been decided by other teams, but the Manish Pandey-led side will hold the aces when they face Haryana. Karnataka, the defending champions, received a boost on the eve of the clash with the arrival of Mayank Agarwal. "Mayank is our trump card and has done well for us during the knockout games in the past. We expect him to do just that," said Aravind. Mayank immediately hit the nets on Thursday afternoon.
While Karnataka's openers - Devdutt Padikkal and KL Rahul - have given the side sturdy starts, their middle-order hasn't been tested enough. Mayank's presence will add meat to their middle-order that comprises Manish and Rohan Kadam in it. While Karnataka's spinners - Shreyas Gopal and J Suchith have kept it tight - the patchy form of their pacers Ronit More and V Koushik remains a concern. Aravind conceded that his pacers have gone for runs but expects them to make amends on Friday. "Yes the fast bowlers have been hit a few times but T20 is a batsmen's game. But I believe they have the potential to strike back," said Aravind.
Haryana, on the other hand, have an experienced spin-bowling line-up in leg-spinners Mishra and Yuzvendra Chahal. To top that, their pace attack comprising - Ashish Hooda and Sumit Kumar - have been consistent with the ball. More importantly, Haryana will be banking on their allrounder Harshal Patel to do the job. The 29-year-old medium-pacer has had a dream run in the tournament - scoring 340 runs and taking 18 wickets from 11 games. With the bat, Chaitanya Bishnoi (225 runs from 11 games) and Shivam Chauhan (221 in 8 outings) have contributed.
Aravind said it will be a contest that could go down the wire. "Both teams are evenly matched and it will all boil down to who executes their plans better," he said.