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Ranji Trophy: Keen contest on cards
Punjab is looking better prepared for the match against Mumbai than they had in the two previous two ties, reports Subhash Rajta.
Punjab coach Daljeet Singh and skipper Pankaj Dharmani had a long chat while the others were sweating it out in the nets. It was not tough to fathom the subject of their discussion, for after losing to Bengal and having failed to earn an outright win against Gujarat they have just two points and are in a must win situation.
That they face battle-hardened Mumbai on Saturday makes their job more difficult.
Fortunately, Punjab is looking better prepared for this match than they had in the two previous two ties. Moreover, their fragile batting now seems to have acquired some strength. Karan Goel’s knock of 96 against Gujarat is a case in the point.
Ravneet Ricky too seems to be in the middle of a good run with two hundreds in the last three matches and with Dinesh Mongia back, the team showcases a good batting line-up. Not to speak of Gaurav Gupta, who looked solid in the last two matches.
The bowling department too has been delivering as per expectations. Luv Ablish and Gagandeep Singh can pose problems for any batting side.
As for Mumbai, they would be equally desperate to emerge triumphant as they don’t have a point in their kitty. They conceded two points to Bengal in their first match.
“We have a balanced attack to exploit whatever conditions we get and our batsmen too are quite upbeat as they like the wicket where the ball comes early on the bat. So it would be an engrossing contest,” said their coach Praveen Amre.
UP banking on Kaif
Kanpur: Defending champions Uttar Pradesh will be looking forward to the return of India players Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina to boost their morale when they take on Karnataka on Saturday.
