Punjab face a daunting task in containing Karnataka's rampaging batsmen in their upcoming knockout quarterfinal tie at Mysore on Thursday.
Karnataka's batsmen have enjoyed phenomenal success this season. The likes of Manish Pandey (553), Ganesh Satish (441), Amit Verma (481), KB Pawan (486), are all among runs. The already fearsome batting will become all the more dangerous with the return of Rahul Dravid, as captain.
With 28 points from their league stage, the table toppers have batted out their opponents so far. "We are taking it like another match. We are just taking it one game at a time," said Karnataka coach Sanath Kumar.
Punjab will hope their new ball bowlers, Love Ablish and Manpreet Gony, provide early breakthroughs as they did so often in the league stage. But the duo have their task cut out as the conditions won't be as favourable for fast bowling as the ones they're used to back home, where they played six of their seven matches. Their only away game, against Railways, was drawn.
Skipper Pankaj Dharmani is hopeful that his young side has it in them to get past Karnataka. "We arrived here two days
early to get used to the conditions and we have the necessary momentum to knock out any side. So I am hopeful we can catch them off guard if we continue to bowl they way we have," he said.
Punjab's batting hasn't been at its best . Wicketkeeper batsman Uday Kaul is the highest run getter with 428, while opener Ravi Inder Singh has scored a creditable 408 runs from seven outings. As for Karnataka, their only worry is form of Robin Uthappa. He is averaging way below his potential but will have to apply himself in this tie.
{{/usCountry}}Punjab's batting hasn't been at its best . Wicketkeeper batsman Uday Kaul is the highest run getter with 428, while opener Ravi Inder Singh has scored a creditable 408 runs from seven outings. As for Karnataka, their only worry is form of Robin Uthappa. He is averaging way below his potential but will have to apply himself in this tie.
{{/usCountry}}Karnataka: R. Dravid (Capt), R. Uthappa, KB Pawan, A. Verma, M. Pandey, CM Gautam, G. Satish, S. Joshi, V. Kumar, A. Mithun, S.Arvind, S. Binny, U. Patel, KP Appanna , A. Sagar
Punjab: P. Dharamani (Capta), S. Sohal, R. I. Singh, U. Kaul, T. Kohli, M. Sidana, V. Bhalla, G. Singh, C. Madan, H. Singh, M. Gony, L. Abhilish, R. Golu, S.Ladda, R. Sharma.