Karnataka to take on Bengal in Ranji semifinal

[King]

KOLKATA, JAN 22 (PTI) A confident Karnataka will take on an upbeat Bengal in a Ranji Trophy Elite Division semifinal at the Eden Gardens here from tomorrow, even as stars of both teams are doing in national duty. While Bengal will have to do without the charismatic Sourav Ganguly, Karnataka would be missing the services of India cricket team captain Rahul Dravid, veteran Anil Kumble and in-form opener Robin Uthappa. Karnataka coach Venkatesh Prasad, hoping that his team would make it to the final, said "we are definitely positive. Our mindset is positive". Opener R Barrington and middle-order batsmen Yere Goud and C Raghu had scored centuries in their last match and were in great shape, Karnataka team sources said. Karnataka entered the last four stage of Ranji Trophy Elite Division by virtue of its first innings lead over Saurashtra in their seventh and final league match. Bengal had, in contrast, overran Rajasthan by an innings and 62 runs to enter the semi-final. Rohan Gavaskar will replace Ganguly in the Bengal team, which is likely to remain more or less unchanged. The hosts would depend on its fast bowlers with medium pacer Ranadeb Bose, who picked up seven wickets in the last match, spearheading the attack. The Bengal batting line-up is also quite strong with two of them, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (115) and Manoj Tiwary (181), getting centuries in their last outing. "We have plans for the match. We know many of the Karnataka players and have prepared for them," Bengal captain Deep Dasgupta said after a practise session.

[Guest BossBhai]

Re: Karnataka to take on Bengal in Ranji semifinal -- Removed on request of the user --

[King]

Re: Karnataka to take on Bengal in Ranji semifinal I think Anil Kumble should definitely have played, he is not playing the first couple of ODIs either and am sure he must have had fair bit of rest after the Saffie tour.