At 38, Dinesh Karthik is still leading Tamil Nadu’s quest for another white-ball title, and he will be without the services of Sai Sudharsan and Pradosh Ranjan Paul, who are touring South Africa, when his side takes on 41-time Ranji Trophy champion Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) quarterfinal at the Sanosara Cricket Ground ‘B’ here on Monday.
Tamil Nadu last lifted the VHT title in 2016-17 on the back of Karthik’s century in the final and he finds himself playing a lone hand again, being the only batter from his side to aggregate more than 200 runs in the tournament. That he will be without TN’s only centurion in the competition, Sudharsan, and the calm head of Paul will add to his task given the top-order’s poor returns.
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“We will really miss them, but we do have a good side and we will try and do our best,” Karthik said after an optional training session on Sunday at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, about 30 kilometres from the match venue.
Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane with head coach Omkar Salvi during a practice session ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI/ THE HINDU
Karthik’s counterpart Ajinkya Rahane won’t have it any easier, with Mumbai’s batting failing to chase 289 and 200 against Tripura and Odisha, respectively, in its last two league games.
While Mumbai will be without Shardul Thakur and Sarfaraz Khan, away on India’s tour to South Africa, the return of all-rounder Shivam Dube from national duty will come as a relief.
Seeing his junior team members depart on a tour he was an integral part of when the national team last visited the Proteas, Rahane will know he will have to do better than the 157 runs in seven matches that he has managed so far to be in the reckoning again.
The 27-year-old Jay Bista has stood head and shoulders above the rest of Mumbai’s batters, scoring 281 runs at an average in excess of 46.
Dinesh Karthik is seen sharpening his wicketkeeping skills ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal between Tamil Nadu and Mumbai. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI/THE HINDU
TN and Mumbai’s bowlers have bailed their batters out in the group stage. While Karthik’s quartet of Sandeep Warrier, T. Natarajan, R. Sai Kishore and Varun Chakravarthy has fired in unison to help the side defend two sub-200 totals against Baroda and Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai’s pace duo comprising Mohit Avasthi and Tushar Deshpande, and spinner Shams Mulani have ensured batters don’t have to chase too many.
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However, come the quarterfinal in the city where TN thrashed Mumbai in the VHT quarterfinal in 2009-10, albeit at a different venue, and where runs have been in abundance, the batters will hope to turn their fortunes around in what is being touted as ‘a contest between red-ball and white-ball legacy’.
In the other quarterfinal matches, Haryana takes on Bengal, Rajasthan meets Kerala, which will be withouts its skipper Sanju Samson, and Vidarbha locks horns with Karnataka.
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