Vinay Kumar confident but wary of Mumbai

February 25, 2015 02:19 am | Updated 02:19 am IST - Bengaluru:

STRATEGY TALK: Karnataka's C.M. Gautam, Abhimanyu Mithun and bowling coach Mansur Ali Khan have a discussion on the eve of the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Mumbai. Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

STRATEGY TALK: Karnataka's C.M. Gautam, Abhimanyu Mithun and bowling coach Mansur Ali Khan have a discussion on the eve of the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Mumbai. Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

More than two months after commencing its Ranji Trophy campaign, defending champion Karnataka is a couple of steps away from registering an encore. The semifinal against Mumbai at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here from Wednesday will be the first hurdle for R. Vinay Kumar’s men as they aim to last the distance and retain Indian domestic cricket’s most coveted silverware.

It is easier said than done and Mumbai, with its hoary history laden with 40 titles, can be a tough opponent even though skipper Aditya Tare and coach Pravin Amre paid their respects to the host.

They even stressed that the pressure is on Karnataka and not on the visitors as Mumbai is a team in transition. “The average age of the Mumbai side is about 23-24 and we have had seven debutants this season,” Amre said but the chutzpah of India’s financial capital was evident when he added: “Karnataka can expect a good fight from us.”

Starting with four wins on the trot, Karnataka tapered off through a string of draws but its personnel are in prime form. Robin Uthappa (840) is currently this Ranji season’s highest run-getter while K.L. Rahul (633), Shreyas Gopal (629), R. Samarth (550) and vice-captain C.M. Gautam (453) too have prospered. Throw in Manish Pandey (488) into the mix and Karnataka’s impregnable air gets further fortified.

In nice rhythm

The bowling unit’s quartet that includes three seamers — Vinay (34 wickets), S. Arvind (35), Abhimanyu Mithun (31) — and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal (22), has settled into a rhythm. Understandably, Vinay exuded confidence but he would rather not look far ahead. “It has been good that we managed a good run over the last two seasons. But we would like to live in the present and take it match by match,” he said.

Part of his guarded nature also stemmed from the way a Group A match against Mumbai shaped up earlier this month. Despite the absence of stars like Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, Mumbai had then wrested the first innings honours in a drawn encounter at home.

That result and a victory against Baroda has only augmented Mumbai’s self-belief, a trait that was amply evident in Tare’s words: “The culture of Mumbai side is such that the newcomers are expected to perform. In that sense we are lucky to have a bunch of guys with great attitude.”

Later he said: “Our motto is to win the game.” It isn’t an empty boast as in Shreyas Iyer (744 runs) and Suryakumar Yadav (642), he has batsmen, who can flourish and the attack has fangs too as evident in seamer Shardul Thakur, who, with 40 scalps is the season’s second-highest wicket-taker. Thakur’s support-cast that includes left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh (13 from three matches), has been adequate. Having started with a loss to Jammu & Kashmir, Mumbai had a roller-coaster ride and still managed to find a berth in the last-four. That doughty spirit has to be tapped again, if Karnataka’s domineering march is to be curtailed on a pitch that both camps termed as ‘good’.

The teams (from):

Karnataka: R. Vinay Kumar (captain), C.M. Gautam (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Robin Uthappa, R. Samarth, Manish Pandey, K.L. Rahul, Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, Udit Patel, A. Mithun, S. Arvind, H.S. Sharath, J. Suchith, Shishir Bhavane and Kunal Kapoor. Coaches: J. Arunkumar and Mansur Ali Khan.

Mumbai: Aditya Tare (captain & wicket-keeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Nayar, Shrideep Mangela, Siddhesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Sufiyan Shaikh, Nikhil Patil, Shardul Thakur, Mairaj Khan, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Wilkin Mota, Harmeet Singh and Tushar Deshpande.

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