KL Rahul, Siraj and Kohli return for last Ranji league games

Karnataka currently have 19 points and Haryana have 26 points, but Kerala with 21 points are putting pressure on both the teams.
Mohammed Siraj will play for Hyderabad in their last league match
Mohammed Siraj will play for Hyderabad in their last league match(Photo | PTI)
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CHENNAI: Locked in a three-way tussle for a quarterfinal berth, Karnataka will have KL Rahul’s experience to bank on in the quest for a bonus point win over table-toppers Haryana in their final league match of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Karnataka currently have 19 points and Haryana have 26 points, but Kerala with 21 points are putting pressure on both the teams. If the former champions manage a bonus point victory (7 points) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, their tally will be swelled to 26 points.

In that scenario, the home side can enter the last eight either as the top team or the second-placed team of the group, depending on Kerala’s outing against Bihar at Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram. A win even without a bonus point will take Kerala to 27 points, and they will end up as Group C leaders. In that event, Haryana, who will stay on 26 points, will be knocked out as Karnataka will have more bonus point wins (2) to their credit than Haryana (1).

Meanwhile, Hyderabad, although out of contention for knockouts, will see Mohammed Siraj playing their fixture against Vidarbha in Nagpur. It will be Siraj’s return to competitive cricket since the Sydney Test against Australia. The biggest news of this round is of course Virat Kohli playing at the Arun Jaitely Stadium for Delhi against Railways. Kohli will be playing his first Ranji match since the tie between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in 2012. Such has been the fanfare around his return that in a last minute change, the BCCI has decided to livestream the match in Delhi which was originally not on the rooster.

The last round of group games will see three top India stars make a comeback to the domestic circuit while Ravindra Jadeja will continue to play for Saurashtra against Assam in what is a must-win match for his team. He was the player of the match in the last round as Saurashtra beat Delhi, which saw Rishabh Pant take the field.

Mumbai fielded Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer in their previous match against J&K but fell short.

Now, they hope J&K to continue the winning streak against Baroda, who have 27 points, in their last league match. Mumbai are at 22 and a win against Meghalaya can help them qualify for knockouts if Baroda lose. However, if Baroda manage a draw after earning first innings lead then it will be curtains for the 42-time champions despite a bonus win over their next opponents.

In Group D, table-toppers Tamil Nadu will be keen to have a good outing in Jamshedpur against Jharkhand. With 25 points at the moment, if they could secure a first innings lead, the Sai Kishore-led side will seal the top place, making it to the quarterfinal just like they did last year. Although they do not have B Sai Sudarshan, who is still in rehab, a young Andre Siddarth has emerged as a star batter with senior pros chipping in. B Indrajith, who has had a quiet season so far, will have a point to prove before the knockouts and no better time for the middle-order batter to rise to the occasion and help his team.

Select fixtures

Group A: At Cuttack: Odisha vs Services

Group B: At Nagpur: Vidarbha vs Hyderabad; At Puducherry: Puducherry vs Uttarakhand; At Vizianagaram: Andhra vs Rajasthan

Group C: At Bengaluru: Karnataka vs Haryana; At Thumba: Kerala vs Bihar

Group D: At Jamshedpur: Jharkhand vs Tamil Nadu; At Delhi: Delhi vs Railways

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