Champions ready for Assam challenge

Bengaluru/Chennai: Being overwhelming favourites to complete a hat-trick of Ranji Trophy titles, defending champions Karnataka begin their new season in the four-day encounter against Assam in Guwahati on Thursday.

Led by the treble-title winning captain R. Vinay Kumar, Karnataka’s talented bunch are in blazing form having represented the India ‘A’ squads in various formats over the past couple of months.

Placed in Group A, the J Arun Kumar (batting) and Mansur Ali Khan (bowling) coached side boasts a well-balanced unit but will miss the services of star batsman KL Rahul in the opener, who has failed to recover from a hamstring injury.

Apart from Rahul, Karnataka will have to do without all-rounder Stuart Binny and pacer S. Arvind, both on national duty for the South Africa series. Without the trio, Karnataka still have enough resources to tackle minnows Assam at their home ground — Barsapara Cricket Stadium.

Meanwhile, young fast bowler Prasidh M. Krishna, who impressed the selectors with a match-winning six-wicket haul on his first-class debut against Bangladesh ‘A’ has been included in the 15-member squad. Along with the teenager, left-arm spinner J. Suchith also finds a place in the team.

On Tuesday against the South Africans, in-form opener Mayank Agarwal dazzled hammering a 47-ball 87 in the warm-up game. For Karun Nair, a fine run in the first few matches will draw the national selectors’ attention for the Test series starting in November.

Injury-hit Tamil Nadu face Baroda
With a new set of support staff and an assured Abhinav Mukund, now a regular opener for India ‘A’, at the helm, Tamil Nadu would clearly approach the opener against Baroda, starting at Chepauk on Thursday, with freshness and confidence. On the eve of the match, however, the hosts suffered a double blow as all-rounder Vijay Shankar and pacer Aswin Crist, both shoo-ins in the playing XI, were ruled out with injuries. Shankar, who impressed in the colours of India ‘A’, hurt his right shoulder during fielding on the final day of the unofficial Test against Bangladesh ‘A’ on Tuesday, while a side strain has laid Crist low.

The frontrunner to replace Crist will be 29-year-old right-arm pacer J. Kaushik, who last played for Tamil Nadu in the first match of 2014. In addition to Kaushik, L. Vignesh and M. Mohammed would also harbour hopes of getting a place in the eleven.

Delhi without coach Jadeja for opener
Meanwhile, Delhi cricket team’s chief coach Ajay Jadeja will not be present in the dressing room when the Gautam Gambhir led side play their opening match against Rajasthan in Jaipur on Thursday.

While the official reason given is that Jadeja’s son is unwell and that is the reason he has decided to skip the tie, the other theory being floated is that he is unhappy with the appointment of Amit Bhandari as the bowling coach.

“Ajay (Jadeja) has informed us that he would not be able to perform the coach's duty as his son is not well. He is expected to join the team from the second match,” DDCA president Sneh Prakash Bansal said.

When asked if Bhandari’s appointment by the Sports Committee led to Jadeja’s decision to stay away, Bansal said, “I don’t think that can be the reason. For us, Ajay is the chief coach and his decisions are final. If there would have been such a problem, we would have removed Bhandari as Jadeja is more important to us.”

THE FIXTURES
Group A: Assam vs Karnataka at Guwahati; Maharashtra vs Haryana at Pune; Rajasthan vs Delhi at Jaipur; Vidarbha vs Odisha at Nagpur; Tamil Nadu vs Baroda at Chennai
Group B: Andhra vs Mumbai at Vizianagaram, Punjab vs Railways at Mohali; Uttar Pradesh vs Madhya Pradesh at Moradabad.
Group C: Goa vs Hyderabad at Porvorim; J&K vs Kerala at Srinagar, Saurashtra vs Tripura at Rajkot; Services vs Jharkhand at New Delhi.