Maharashtra vs Mumbai Wankhede, Mumbai
Group toppers Maharashtra will play defending champions Mumbai, who barely made it to the knock-out stage, in the five-day quater-final of the Ranji Trophy that promises to be a keen fight at the Wankhede Stadium, starting here on Wednesday.
While Maharashtra advanced to the elimination phase by finishing on top of Group C, 40-time champions Mumbai staged a grand comeback from the brink in Group A after conceding a 99-run first innings lead to Gujarat in their final league game before winning outright to qualify for the quarter-final.
All these facts would be confined to the dustbin when the two arch-rivals meet in what is considered to be the Maharashtra state version of the well-known ‘War of Roses’ between lancashire and Yorkshire in English county cricket.
Though the visitors from across the Sahyadri ranges topped their group that consisted of the championship’s weakest teams, they would find Mumbai - bolstered by the return of veteran pacer Zaheer Khan and all-rounder Abhishek Nayar — a tough nut to crack in the latter’s backyard.
Zaheer, who will lead the hosts, is available for this game after missing a few earlier when he was with the Indian team in South Africa and his mere presence would lift the Mumbai bowling attack on a track that generally has bounce and assists pacers for the first couple of days.
Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh M Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
Riding high on their five consecutive victories, Karnataka will be looking to continue their winning streak when they take on Uttar Pradesh in the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy at Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday.
Karnataka have been on a roll as never before, as they scripted five outright victories in a row this season in the league stage. The most unforgettable one was against traditional rivals Mumbai, whom they beat by 160-run margin. The host captain Vinay Kumar would undoubtedly be hoping to take full advantage of playing in home conditions and give a hard time to the visitors, who have senior pros in their ranks like India discards — Mohammad Kaif, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar and RP Singh.
Vinay might be disappointed with the absence of in-form all-rounder Stuart Binny due to his inclusion in India’s ODI squad for New Zealand tour, but must be relieved to have Robin Uthappa back in the side, having recovered from hamstring injury. The swashbuckling Uthappa will replace Mayank Agarwal, who has been in good form. The Karnataka opener will be missing the quarterfinals as he is being named in Karnataka’s U-25 squad for the CK Nayudu Trophy quarterfinal against Himachal Pradesh in Dharamsala from January 5.
left-arm spinner KP Appanna will return to the squad after he was rested in the previous match against Delhi, which Karnataka won by eight wickets to finish the league stage with five consecutive victories.
Punjab vs Jammu & Kashmir Motibaug, Baroda
Having proved their mettle at the group league stage, a determined Jammu and Kashmir is ready to lock horns with formidable Punjab team that consists of senior players like Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh in their maiden Ranji Trophy quarter-final appearance here on Wednesday.
On paper, it might be a ‘David vs Goliath’ contest but Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh knows well that it would be foolish to take Perveez Rasool and Co. lightly as Rajasthan had showed during the 2010-11 season when they emerged from the ‘Plate Group’ to win Ranji Trophy defeating Mumbai and Tamil Nadu in the quarter and semi-finals. “The boys are eagerly waiting for a good contest. We want to play more matches like these where we’d be meeting teams like Punjab and Mumbai. This will also be an indicator of our improvement. It’ll be an honour to play against a player of Yuvi Paaji’s stature,” J&K skipper Rasool said.
Harbhajan, who was out of action play after the first three matches due to shoulder injury, is set to play in the quarter-final at the Moti Baug ground which has helped both pacers and spinners during the course of the season.
Harbhajan, who has taken 18 wickets in three games, will like to get back into the groove while Yuvraj, who has scored 140 runs from three games without a single 50 will be itching to get a big score. “I am fully fit and looking forward for some action,” said Harbhajan.
Bengal vs Railways Eden Gardens, Kolkata
High on confidence after recording back-to-back wins, hosts Bengal would look to derail the Railways team when they clash in Ranji quarterfinals here from Wednesday, weeks after an ugly ‘Mankaded’ incident marred an earlier rubber between the two teams. After being written off in the league stage, two-time champions Bengal brilliantly turned it around by thrashing Uttar Pradesh (home) and Tamil Nadu (away) to storm into the quarters for the first time since 2008-09 when they were ousted by TN.
For Bengal, a team that could not go beyond the group stage in last four seasons, the excitement is in an all time high as the CAB too has gone all out creating a hype around laxmi Ratan Shukla and Co.
From gathering 10 former Bengal captains who gifted Shukla an autographed bat to distributing complimentary tickets, the CAB is leaving no stone unturned. It will be interesting to see how Bengal soak up the pressure against an under-rated Railways who have been a picture of consistency since 2007-08 when they finished runners-up in the Plate league to get a promotion. Railways made a semifinal exit going down to Mumbai last season, while in 2010-11 they lost in the quarters to Baroda.
Bengal might have peaked at the fag end of the league stage, but the Railmen were steady with three wins including one by a bonus point against Baroda to top the group B. PTI