Bengaluru: With the batting unit finding its groove thanks to the young crop and the bowling attack regaining its verve, Karnataka will aim to build a winning momentum when they take on Assam in their fourth Elite Group B fixture at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati from Monday.
Vinay Kumar’s stint as head coach began with some jittery moments — picking up two points in two games — and debatable decisions like promoting Vyshak Vijaykumar to No. 3, benching Vidwath Kaverappa, and playing three spinners on a deck under covers for two days.
Despite an unconvincing start, they clicked into gear with a bonus-point victory over Tripura and jumped to third in Group B. As they seek another win, Karnataka will start favourites against Assam with history also favouring them.
On the batting front, the partnerships between Aneeshwar Gautam, Manvanth Kumar and Ritesh Bhatkal meant Karnataka could bat deep. That said, one area Shreyas Gopal’s men will be keen on is showing some intent.
They were overly cautious in the face of some shoddy bowling against Tripura, which coach Vinay was critical of, and has said that there would be discussions around it.
“We could have gone a bit more aggressive in terms of the approach, because we didn’t have any wins from the last two games, which may have played in the batsman’s head. I am not sure. But we will definitely discuss the approach and come back as a much better team,” Vinay said.
The chatter around Mayank Agarwal’s struggles once again resumed after a not-so-great start to the season which so far has yielded just 66 runs from four innings.
Aware of his lean patch, the right-hander was spotted working with side-arm specialist for over 45 minutes during the second day’s lunch break in Mysuru.
Karnataka’s crucial decision will revolve around the bowling attack. To accommodate Vidwath as the third seamer, they will have to bench off-spinner Ritesh, who asserted his all-round abilities with a brisk 74 n.o..With Vinay’s team-over-individual approach, it should come down to the conditions and surface.
Meanwhile, Shikhar Shetty has proved a handy second-spinning option to Shreyas Gopal and will hope to build on his promising performances.
The Ranji Trophy, after the fourth round, will press the pause button for white-ball competitions, and a settled Karnataka will hope to claim at least six points before the break.