One team is already through to the knock-out stage of the Ranji Trophy. The other is out of reckoning.
Yet, it could be an interesting tussle over the next four days at the Thalassery Cricket Stadium when Kerala takes on Assam, which has played some astonishing cricket in Group ‘C’ so far. The visitor has notched up five wins, more than anybody else in the entire tournament, and has 35 points.
The host though has only 19 points, but it is in its best frame of mind for a long time, having scored its maiden win of the season a few days ago at the same venue. It was the spinners who fashioned that victory, the foundation stone of which was laid by Sanju V. Samson with a double hundred.
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But one of those spinners, orthodox left-armer Akshay Chandran, who took six second-innings wickets on debut, is not playing in this match as he is being rested so that he could play in the under-23 quarterfinal against Madhya Pradesh starting on February 10.
Another left-arm spinner S. Monish and part-time leg-spinner Amit Verma, who has had two five-wicket hauls in the last two matches, are expected to bowl a lot.
Kerala, however, is unlikely to opt for a turning track though, as Assam’s spinners have been wreaking havoc right through the season. Off-spinner Swarupam Purkayastha has taken 35 wickets from seven matches, with two five-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket match hauls.
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Left-arm spinner J. Syed Mohammad has picked up 22 wickets. Seam bowler Krishna Das too has played his part with 21 wickets.
The teams (from):
Kerala: Sachin Baby (capt.), K.B. Pawan, Abhishek Hegde, Amit Verma, Sanju V. Samson, Rohan Prem, Raiphi Vincent Gomez, Robert Fernandez, Nikhilesh Surendran (wk), S. Monish, Salman Nizar, Manu Krishnan, Basil Thampi, N. Niyas and P.U. Anthaf.
Assam: Dheeraj Jadhav (capt.), Abu Nechim, Arup Das, Gokul Sharma, K.B. Arun Karthick (wk), Krishna Das, Pallavkumar Das, Sibsankar Roy, Swarupam Purkayastha, J. Syed Mohammed, Tarjinder Singh, Arlen Konwar, Dhiraj Goswami, Kunal Saikia and Pritam Das.