Ranji: Dravid's presence boosts Karnataka
Posted on Dec 25, 2008 at 15:17 | Updated Dec 25, 2008 at 15:36
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Mumbai: Buoyed by the availability of Rahul Dravid, Karnataka take on Saurashtra in the four-day Ranji Trophy quarter-final match commencing at the Brabourne Stadium here on Friday.
The mere presence of the India stalwart, who has come out of a lengthy run drought in Tests with a determined century in the first innings of the second Test in Mohali against England, gives Karnataka a slight edge against the all-round abilities of their rivals.
Dravid will considerably bolster the Karnataka batting line-up that has not clicked as well as desired in the league phase with skipper Robin Uthappa leading the run-getter's list with a tally of 455 from six ties, at just over 45 per innings, including of two hundreds.
None of the other batsmen has crossed even 300 runs in aggregate and Dravid, with his vast experience and skills in negotiating different conditions, would add a lot of meat to this inconsistent line-up.
In bowling too Karnataka, who finished second behind arch-rivals Tamil Nadu in Group B, have relied a lot on the skills of veteran left-arm slow bowler Sunil Joshi and the lively pace of Vinay Kumar to deliver the goods.
Joshi, leading the wickettakers' list with 31 victims to his credit, and Vinay Kumar (19) have been the pick of the bowlers and the team would be hoping that others, especially pacer NC Aiyappa who has not fired till now, will rediscover some form.
Two 20-year-old India A players -- Cheteshwar Pujara and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja -- have been in outstanding form for Saurashtra with the bat while in bowling the latter, who bowls slow left-arm orthodox, and left-arm pacer Balkrishna Jadeja have stolen the credits.
Pujara has had an outstanding season thus far with two triple hundreds in the CK Nayudu under-22 tournament and another triple ton in Ranji Trophy against Orissa bringing him into national focus.
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