Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20, Semi-final 1: Karnataka v Chhattisgarh – Preview, Prediction

The second round of quarterfinal clashes were a bit of an anti-climax. Rain in Bengaluru saw to that, but more importantly, the questionable rules of the Vijay Hazare Trophy was laid bare for all to see. The washouts in Chhattisgarh’s clash against Mumbai and Punjab’s tussle against Tamil Nadu meant number of wins in the group stages was used to decide who would progress to the semi-finals.

That meant Tamil Nadu – who won all their nine matches in Group C – progressed at the expense of Punjab, who had just five wins, while, more dramatically, it was Chhattisgarh who made the progression past Mumbai, their five victories beating Mumbai’s four. In hindsight, Mumbai will particularly rue the narrow loss they suffered to the same opponents in their campaign opener – the ramifications of that has proven far-reaching.

But it is what it is. Chhattisgarh are through, and they will take on another domestic giant in the semi-final – Karnataka. This will be an altogether different challenge for the spirited side, but there are significant doubts regarding their chances in the match. In fact, in the quarterfinal, their batting was suspect, with Mumbai restricting them to 190/6 in 45.4 overs, a figure Mumbai looked more than capable of chasing when they reached 95/0 in 11.3 overs.

Unfortunately for Mumbai, rain then intervened and left the ground in a soggy mess. But Karnataka would have taken note of how the top order crumbled to the wily pace of Dhawal Kulkarni and Shardul Thakur, and the likes of Abhimanyu Mithun and Prasidh Krishna will prove as much of a threat.

The Karnakata batsmen will also have noticed how quickly the Chhattisgarh bowlers succumbed to Yashasvi Jaiswal, and with the likes of KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair down the spine of the side, there are plenty of runs to come, should Chhattisgarh slip-up. How will the minnows cope? It’ll make for an interesting viewing. Rain permitting, of course.

Key players

KL Rahul (Karnataka): The India star has been in decent nick for Karnataka since being dropped by India, and his 90 against Puducherry in the quarter-final was his third half-century in the tournament, apart from a 131 early on against Kerala. He seems to be finding his best form again – precisely why he was asked to play domestic cricket again – but that is not good news for Chhattisgarh.

Amandeep Khare (Chhattisgarh): The middle-order batsman is a key cog in the Chhattisgarh machinery, and it seems his primary function in the side is to arrest slides and strike on the counter. Even if the Karnataka bowlers make early inroads, getting past Khare will be difficult – get that wicket, and they’ll have a significant foothold on the match.

Likely XIs

Karnataka: KL Rahul (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Rohan Kadam, Manish Pandey (c), Praveen Dubey, Karun Nair, K Gowtham, Abhimanyu Mithun, V Koushik, Shreyas Gopal, M Prasidh Krishna

Chhattisgarh: Jiwanjot Singh, Shashank Chandrakar, Ashutosh Singh, Harpreet Singh (c), Amandeep Khare, Shashank Singh, Ajay Mandal, Lavin Coster (wk), Puneet Datey, Pankaj Rao, SS Rulkar

Prediction

The luck will run out for Chhattisgarh. Karnataka to stomp through.