Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20 semi-final 2, Haryana vs Karnataka: Preview, predictions, likely XIs

Haryana will play Karnataka in the second semi-final of the 2019-20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, at Surat. Haryana have been the surprise package of the tournament, winning 8 matches in a row to top Super League Group A before losing an inconsequential (to them) contest against Maharashtra.

Haryana’s four-pronged spin attack – Yuzvendra Chahal, Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia – has thrived in the second round on the slow Surat pitches. Add to that Harshal Patel’s (and Tewatia’s) excellent all-round performance, and Chaitanya Bishnoi and Shivam Chauhan’s consistency, and it is not difficult to figure out why they have been so successful.

But for their late defeat against Mumbai, Karnataka should have topped the Super League Group B. Even then, Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, and Rohan Kadam form the most explosive batting line-up of the tournament, while Shreyas Gopal has been an efficient fulcrum with ball.

This will be a close contest. Haryana’s spinners give them a slight edge on this pitch.

Key players

Harshal Patel (Haryana): With 309 runs (eighth-most in the tournament) at a strike rate of 165 and 18 wickets (second-most) at 6.87 an over, Harshal stands head and shoulders above other all-rounders. He will play a major role.

Devdutt Padikkal (Karnataka): With 461 runs at 174, Karnataka’s debutant teenage wonder is the leading run-scorer of this edition. Let alone in the match, Padikkal is likely to become a key player in Indian cricket in years to come.

Likely XIs

Haryana: Chaitanya Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Shivam Chauhan, Himanshu Rana, Sumit Kumar, Rahul Tewatia, Jitesh Saroha (wk), Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra (c), Ashish Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Karnataka: Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey (c), Karun Nair, Rohan Kadam, Pavan Deshpande, KC Gowtham, Praveen Dubey, Abhimanyu Mithun, Shreyas Gopal, Ronit More.