They might be leading different teams, but Rest of India skipper Cheteshwar Pujara and his Rajasthan counterpart Hrishikesh Kanitkar have similar strategies for the Irani Cup tie — unleash their respective pace batteries on the opposition in the match starting here on Friday.
Pujara said looking at the wicket the ROI team will go with three pacers.
“In the initial couple of days our fast bowlers may get help from the wicket as we had seen in the Test match against New Zealand. It may later turn a bit. We would like to use it our advantage,” he said.
Asked whether left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, one of the heroes of last month’s Under-19 World Cup triumph, would get a chance, Pujara said the team management still had to decide on the playing eleven.
Pujara said the match will provide a good base for Ajinkya Rahane and S Badrinath to perform and gain confidence.
Kanitkar said Rajasthan wants to reverse the trend and beat Rest of India as they had done to win Ranji Trophy, after a gap of 76 years.
“Definitely we want to reverse the trend and beat ROI in Irani Cup. Till couple of seasons back, Rajasthan had never won Ranji in 76 years, but we won. Hopefully we will do the same against ROI in Irani match here,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Definitely we want to reverse the trend and beat ROI in Irani Cup. Till couple of seasons back, Rajasthan had never won Ranji in 76 years, but we won. Hopefully we will do the same against ROI in Irani match here,” he said.
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