Karnataka and Punjab will meet in a must-win Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru from Thursday.
The host is placed fourth (12 points) and has had a frustrating time this season, thwarted by bad weather in the first two matches. The visitor is fifth (11) and has suffered three losses to Kerala, Haryana and Bengal. The tie is thus all-important in either outfit’s quest to finish in the top-two and qualify for the quarterfinals.
On match-eve, Punjab coach Wasim Jaffer was firm in his belief that the pitch was result-oriented. Going by current form, Karnataka appears better placed to take advantage, the presence of Shubman Gill in the opposition ranks notwithstanding.
Just five days ago, Karnataka won its fifth Vijay Hazare Trophy and the side that is expected to take the field against Punjab will more or less be a facsimile of the limited-overs squad. There may be a few tired bodies, but all of them will be brimming with confidence.
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The contest will be the first in red-ball cricket for Karnataka in what appears to be the post-Manish Pandey era. But in R. Smaran and K.V. Aneesh, the team seems to have found talented batting personnel to carry the legacy forward.
Test cricketers Devdutt Padikkal and Prasidh Krishna will add muscle even as leg-spinning all-rounder Shreyas Gopal and pacer V. Koushik work their magic.
Punjab, on the other hand, exited the Hazare Trophy in the quarters, and did not get out of the group stage in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy of which it was the defending champion.
It is a young side, and there will be no Arshdeep Singh and Abhishek Sharma, both of whom are away on India duty. But it is a handicap Punjab has had all campaign, for Arshdeep has featured in just two First Class games and Abhishek none.