We will miss Kanitkar: Bhave

Pune, Feb 4: Delhi, having maintained an all-win record against hosts Maharashtra, start favourites when the two sides clash in the Ranji...

Pune, Feb 4: Delhi, having maintained an all-win record against hosts Maharashtra, start favourites when the two sides clash in the Ranji Trophy Super League cricket opener at the Nehru Stadium here tomorrow.Maharashtra have never won in four meetings, but playing at home is expected to be a psychological advantage for the hosts.

Delhi8217;s skipper Ajay Sharma, nursing an eye infection, is still to arrive. Coach Rakesh Shukla sounded half-hearted while harbouring hope that Sharma would arrive along with team manager Surendra Khanna by the evening flight.

Putting aside their previous losses, Maharashtra skipper Surendra Bhave is in a positive state of mind. The grass on the wicket, traditionally a batsman8217;s paradise, provides Bhave hope that his bowlers derive some advantage.

Curator Vaman Lele provides some intrigue: 8220;This is a different wicket and definitely not the same as that used for the Maharashtra versus Mumbai match. The slight grass on the wicket will soon disappear and the bowlers will havenothing left to cheer,8221; he added.

8220;We will miss Hrishikesh Kanitkar, 8221;said Bhave who pins hopes on Shantanu Sugwekar to sustain a good run of scores against Delhi in the last two seasons. 8220;After 200 against Saurashtra in this season8217;s opener, Shantanu has not come good and this match could give him a chance to make his presence felt,8221; Bhave hoped.

War of the unknowns

RAJKOT: Ignorance is bliss. When the enemy is unknown, nurturing fear is foolhardy. So the obscure rivals 8212; Saurashtra and Haryana 8212; seemed quite laid back on eve of their Group C Super League Ranji Trophy four-day match at the Rajkot Municipal Corporation Race Course ground here on Tuesday.Saurashtra8217;s knowledge about the rivals from North Zone starts and ends with visiting captain Ajay Jadeja. While Jadeja8217;s data bank on the hosts is confined to the inupts from the Mumbai boys about Saurashtra skipper Sitanshu Kotak. 8220;He is a sticker, they say,8221; he said.

The usual parameters of pre-match predictions 8212; form, conditionsand injuries 8212; favour the hosts. At the batting paradise here, Saurashtra have beaten the likes of Mumbai in the one-dayer and have not conceded the first innings lead this season in the longer version. Haryana have former India wicket-keeper Vijay Yadav and Pradeep Jain, who this season claimed his 300th wicket, on injury list.

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Besides Jadeja, another Haryana asset is batsman Amarjeet Kaypee. The 39-year-old, who completed 100 Ranji Trophy matches this season, is in good nick and had a score of 145 against Punjab.

Champions take on MP

Bhilai: Champions Karnataka and hosts Madhya Pradesh will clash in the super league match here tomorrow.

MP will have the services of former Test players, captain Chandrakant Pandit, and spinners Rajesh Chauhan and Narendra Hirwani. The Karnataka team will be studded with skipper Sujeet, Shyam Sunder and Dodda Ganesh.MP team manager and coach Gulrej Ali said the pitch was likely to assist pace bowlers on the first day. From the second day onwards, it would helpthe spinners. The host attack will be mainly in the hands of pacers Devendra Bundela, Harvinder Singh Sodhi and the two spinners.