It will be Assam’s approach against Karnataka’s abundance of riches in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal that gets underway at the Holkar stadium on Monday. In full strength sans Stuart Binny, the southern side looks as formidable as ever, if not simply intimidating.
To regular followers of the game, Assam will have to raise its performance to exceptional levels if it has to make a dent on the reigning champion.
Assam coach Sanath Kumar didn’t seem too overawed. “On paper, we are no comparison for Karnataka with all the stars in their side. But names matter till the game starts. I’ve been telling the boys to focus on the process and enjoy their task,” he said.
“Our mindset has been the same from the league stage, of taking it one game at a time. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain,” said Sanath, who incidentally was Karnataka’s coach for two seasons in the not too distant past and saw the current squad evolve.
“The faith our boys have in each other is a luxury not many teams have,” said his Karnataka counterpart and former opener Jagadeesh Arun Kumar, better known as Jak, reflecting the team’s upbeat mood. “It will be our batting against theirs and a good total should swing things our way. The wicket looks green and should help the seamers.”
“I played for Assam in 2005-06 and won’t underestimate it. Sanath is a good coach, his squad having topped their group. Bowling is their strength,” he felt.
“We have some of the best batsmen against spin,” he noted, suggesting they were not unduly worried by Assam off-spinner Sarupam Purukayastha, whose bag of wickets is among the bulkiest this season. “This will be a test for his skills,” he added.
The teams (from):
Karnataka: R. Vinay Kumar (captain), C.M. Gautham (vice-captain, wicket-keeper), K.L. Rahul, R. Samarth, Kunal Kapoor, Robin Uthappa, Abhimanyu Mithun, Karun Nair, Udit Patel, S. Arvind, S. Gopal, S. Bhavane, J. Suchith, H.S. Sharath, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, Abrar Kazi. Coaches: J. Arun Kumar & Mansoor Ali Khan. Manager: B. Siddaramu.
Assam: Dheeraj Jadhav (captain), Tarjinder Singh (vice-captain), Arup Das, Pallav Das, Krishna Das, Arun Karthick (wicket-keeper), Sib Sankar Roy, Gokul Sharma, Abu Nechim, Sarupam Purukayastha, Preetham Das, Arlen Konwar, Dhiraj Goswami, Kunal Saikia, J. Syed Mohammad. Coaches: Sanath Kumar, Subhadeep Ghosh. Manager: Muqtabul Hussain.
