A cracker of a quarterfinal in the offing

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have the talent and wherewithal to outwit the other

December 22, 2016 11:36 pm | Updated 11:36 pm IST - Visakhapatnam:

VISAKHAPATNAM, ANDHRA PRADESH, 22/12/2016: Karnataka captain R. Vinay Kumar and batting coach J. Arun Kumar at ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam on Thursday ahead of team's Ranji quarterfinal match against Tamil Nadu starring on Friday. --- Photo: C.V.Subrahmanyam

VISAKHAPATNAM, ANDHRA PRADESH, 22/12/2016: Karnataka captain R. Vinay Kumar and batting coach J. Arun Kumar at ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam on Thursday ahead of team's Ranji quarterfinal match against Tamil Nadu starring on Friday. --- Photo: C.V.Subrahmanyam

This is the Southern Derby with an enriching past. And it has thrown up vignettes that are timeless.

To the connoisseurs, the sight of S. Venkatraghavan and V.V. Kumar bowling at Gundappa Viswanath or Erapalli Prasanna and Bhagwat Chandrasekar operating to T.E. Srinivasan was an aesthetically fulfilling experience. Apart from being intensely competitive, those duels also celebrated the beauty of the game.

The expectations will be high when Vinay Kumar’s Karnataka takes on a Tamil Nadu team led by Abhinav Mukund in a much-awaited Ranji Trophy quaterfinal here from Friday.

K.L. Rahul and Karun Nair, who pulverised the English attack in Chennai, lead a line-up that has considerable depth with men such as wicket-keeper batsman C.M. Gautam, and all-rounders Stuart Binny and Shreyas Gopal following the specialists.

The teams had a good look at a surprisingly grass-laden surface that appears different from the one on which India and England played the second Test here.

The captain getting the spin of the coin right will have to make an important decision. Should he opt to bowl and make inroads on what could be a surface assisting seamers.

Or back his batsmen to survive the first couple of hours with minimum damage, build a sizeable first innings total and be in a position to possibly exploit a deteriorating pitch at the end.

Karnataka has an excellent pace combination with Vinay, Abhimanyu Mithun and left-armer S. Arvind backed by support seamer Binny.

Buzzing pace attack

Tamil Nadu too has impressed with its buzzing pace attack. Aswin Crist, K. Vignesh and left-arm seamer T. Natarajan have bowled the team to crucial victories.

Abhinav and wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik have been among big runs for Tamil Nadu. The compact Kaushik Gandhi has been a revelation at No.3, displaying both technique and concentration.

The side, though, has a problem with the second opener’s slot.

Will L. Suryapprakash hang on to his spot or be replaced by left-hander Ganga Sridhar Raju or the aggressive N. Jagadeesan? Jagadeesan has a century this season, albeit lower down the order.

This pitch could develop cracks — in fact leaving grass on the surface could be a ploy to bind the track and prevent it from breaking — and spinners could come into play later in the game.

The indications are that pace-driven Tamil Nadu might not play a second specialist spinner, relying predominantly on Aushik Srinivas’ left-arm spin.

The teams (from):

Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund (capt.), Vijay Shankar, N. Jagadeesan, Kaushik Gandhi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), B. Indrajith, B. Aparajith, K. Vignesh, Aswin Crist, T. Natarajan, Aushik Srinivas, L. Suryaparkash, Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah and Ganga Sridhar Raju.

Karnataka: Vinay Kumar (capt.), Karun Nair, K.L. Rahul, R. Samarth, Manish Pandey, Stuart Binny, Kaunain Abbas, C.M. Gautham (wk), Shreyas Gopal, A. Mithun, S. Arvind, K. Gowtham, Pavan Deshpande, Abrar Kazi, David Mathias and Mayank Agarwal .

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