They are at the end of a long and weary season and the Indian Premier League is just a few days away. So, it was not surprising to see top names like Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar missing from the poorly-timed Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy South Zone T20 cricket championship which begins here on Wednesday.
After all, the players would want to keep themselves fresh for the IPL instead of sweating it out in Kochi.
But Karnataka captain Manish Pandey thinks differently.
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“One of the reasons I’m playing here is that this will be good practice before the IPL and at the same time, try to win games for my team,” said the 25-year-old at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday.
Karnataka has just won the Ranji Tropy and the Irani Trophy to add to the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy it lifted in November and the team is hungry to take the one trophy that is missing from the State’s loaded cabinet.
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“That was what we were discussing in our meeting today,” said Manish. “We’ve won the Ranji Trophy, let’s take this as well, let’s put the same amount of hard work in this tournament. The boys are young and they want to do well.”
Goa and Kerala, in that order, won the top two spots in the South Zone T20 last year and bagged the two all-India berths. But Karnataka looks the clear favourite this time.
Defending champion Goa saw four of its bowlers suffer injuries recently and has arrived here with a young side.
“We were the South Zone champions last year but it’s not going to be easy this time, especially under the hot conditions,” said the Goan coach, former Sri Lankan left-arm fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa.
T20 is a strange game and in one stroke it can wipe away all disappointments.
That is what Kerala, last year’s T20 runner-up and which has the dashing Sanju V. Samson in its ranks, will be hoping after the rather mediocre Ranji season.
“I think we have the team for all formats. The boys have it in them, only thing they need to learn to stretch it to four days,” said the Kerala coach, former Indian player Sairaj Bahutule. “Of course, they are very well prepared for the shorter version, they have practised very well for this tournament so I’m sure they will do well.”
Meanwhile, according to its skipper R. Sathish, Tamil Nadu has a young bunch eager to make an impact. Andhra and Hyderabad are the other sides in this six-team league event which ends on Sunday.