A cricketing contest between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu comes loaded with history and references to an intense rivalry. That rich tradition will get an extended lease when the two neighbouring States clash in the Ranji Trophy Group A match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here from Sunday, though current realities whisper about Karnataka being the defending champion and Tamil Nadu nursing the pangs of transition.
Given its performance over the last 18 months, the host can afford a swagger. Glittering titles — Ranji, Irani and Vijay Hazare — were won and the current season started on a rousing note with the Vijay Hazare Trophy being retained.
No complacency
Thankfully, the think-tank stated that complacency would be kept at bay and batting coach J. Arunkumar said: “One of the advantages of this side is that it is very mature and does not like living on past glory.”
It is a thought that is also echoed by bowling coach Mansur Ali Khan and skipper R. Vinay Kumar said: “It (the team) knows how to handle pressure, and it also knows what to do to keep winning games of cricket.”
Karnataka might miss three key batsmen — K.L. Rahul is away in Australia while Ganesh Satish and Amit Verma have moved to other States — but it has adequate talent to fill the vacuum.
Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair are part of the mix while vice-captain C.M. Gautam and Stuart Binny add depth. The bowling, primarily revolving around incisive seamers, might miss Abhimanyu Mithun who has a niggle but a final call will be taken after a fitness test.
Yet, with Vinay, H.S. Sharath and S. Arvind in the ranks, there is enough arsenal to capitalise on a pitch touted to assist the speed merchants.
Meanwhile Tamil Nadu will miss two key batsmen — Murali Vijay is in Australia and S. Badrinath has shifted to Vidarbha — and a lot will rest on the way skipper R. Prasanna, Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik and B. Aparajith shape up.
The bowling unit has a mentor in L. Balaji, and he and his colleagues will have to stifle Karnataka’s aggressive batsmen.
“We will aim to raise the bar and compete hard. Ours is a team in transition. We will look to take it match by match,” said coach W.V. Raman while Prasanna added: “We are ready to take the bull by the horns.”
The teams (from):
Karnataka : R. Vinay Kumar (captain), C.M. Gautam (wk), Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Stuart Binny, Abhimanyu Mithun, S. Arvind, Shishir Bhavane, Shreyas Gopal, Kunal Kapoor, H.S. Sharath, Abrar Kazi, Udit Patel and R. Samarth.
Coaches : J. Arunkumar (batting) and Mansur Ali Khan (bowling).
Tamil Nadu : R. Prasanna (captain), Abhinav Mukund, Umashankar Sushil, J. Kaushik, B. Aparajith, Aushik Srinivas, L. Balaji, Kaushik Gandhi, B. Indrajith, Dinesh Karthik (wk), M. Mohammed, T. Natarajan, Malolan Rangarajan, Shahrukh Khan and Vijay Shankar. Coach : W.V. Raman.
Match starts at 9.30 a.m.
RANJI FIXTURES
Group A
At Bengaluru: Karnataka vs Tamil Nadu
At Vadodara: Baroda vs Bengal
At Mumbai: Mumbai vs Jammu & Kashmir
At Delhi: Railways vs Madhya Pradesh
Group B
At Delhi: Delhi vs Saurashtra
At Pune: Maharashtra vs Odisha
At Patiala: Punjab vs Haryana
At Jaipur: Rajasthan vs Gujarat
Group C
At Delhi: Services vs Himachal Pradesh
At Visakhapatnam: Andhra vs Hyderabad
At Guwahati: Assam vs Tripura
At Wayanad: Kerala vs Goa
