Barely four days after crumbling to bits against Gujarat, Karnataka will look to pick up the pieces and get back on its feet when it plays Goa in a Ranji Trophy Group-C encounter at the SDNR Wadiyar Stadium starting Friday.
Chasing a paltry 110 for victory, and at one stage comfortably placed at 50 for no loss, Karnataka imploded spectacularly to be bowled out for 103. Having already beaten Punjab, it should have been a second straight outright win over a fellow quarterfinal contender. Instead, the loss will have triggered a period of intense soul-searching.
The host will have to do this without the injured speedster Prasidh Krishna, who could only bowl 14.5 first-innings overs to the Gujarat batters on his return from South Africa. With fellow pacer Vidwath Kaverappa away on India-A duty, M. Venkatesh may play his first First Class tie in his hometown and only the second of his career.
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If there was a big positive from the Gujarat contest, it was captain Mayank Agarwal’s century (109) in the first essay that came after back-to-back ducks versus Punjab. But his deputy Nikin Jose desperately needs runs, having totalled just 34 runs from four innings this campaign. It remains to be seen if opener R. Samarth, who suffered a bout of viral fever in Ahmedabad, is match-fit.
Goa, which lost its opening fixture by 237 runs to Tripura, comes into the match after collecting its first points this edition over Chandigarh by virtue of securing the first-innings lead. The likes of Suyash Prabhudessai, K.V. Siddharth and Deepraj Gaonkar are among the runs.
Siddharth, 31, will especially be keen to perform, for he is from Karnataka and was its top-scorer in the 2021-22 season only to not get a game in 2022-23 and leave for greener pastures ahead of 2023-24.
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