Delhi fancied to beat MP Karnataka, Mumbai in top battle
Mulapadu ( Andhra Pradesh), Dec. 6: Former champions Delhi will fancy their chances when they take on Madhya Pradesh in their quarterfinal match of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament beginning here on Thursday.
Delhi remained unbeaten in the group phase and qualified for the quarterfinals as the runner- up side from Group A with 27 points from three wins and three draws.
They narrowly missed out on a win under controversial circumstances in their season opener against Assam but then went on to pick up three victories, two of them with bonus points.
After Gautam Gambhir refused to take up the captain’s mantle, pacer Ishant Sharma was handed the job and he performed his role quite admirably, leading from the front and helping Delhi pick up 20 wickets in all four matches he skippered. That made a big difference in the team’s performance.
Meanwhile, the Naman Ojha- led MP side is also dealing with issue of poor show by the openers and with 72- run being their best opening stand. Their trademark feature this season has been the resilience shown by the middle and lower- order batsmen after the loss of early wickets.
— PTI Nagpur, Dec. 6: Mumbai, who routed minnows Tripura by 10 wickets in their last league game to book their knock- out berth, will lock horns with Karnataka in what promises to be a no- holds- barred Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match between two battlehardened teams commencing on Thursday.
Mumbai drubbed Tripura at the Wankhede Stadium in what was a must- win game for the 41times Ranji Trophy champions to gather some timely momentum after a sluggish earlier phase.
The Mumbai opening pair of in- form young batsman Prithvi Shaw, who has hit three hundreds and two fifties in his debut season, and Jay Bista, who scored a hundred in the last game, will need to be at their best to negotiate the incisive Karnataka attack and give them a sound start.
Meanwhile, Karnataka has a strong batting line up consisting experienced batsmen like Mayank Agarwal, the top run getter in this Ranji season, and Karun Nair who will give some tough time to Mumbai. — PTI