Will Karnataka make it to the Semi Finals?

(Copied from my other blog where it was posted on 26-12-2010)

20010-11 season Ranji Trophy Quarter Finals have thrown up some surprises. The performance of the plate qualifiers Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh deserves praise.

Biggest surprise has been the state of defending champion Mumbai. At Jaipur with one day to go plate qualifiers Rajasthan are in lead by 232 runs with 3 wickets in hand. It is almost certain that Rajasthan will deliver the biggest surprise of the Ranji Trophy for as long as you remember.

On the other hand the second qualifier from plate league Madhya Pradesh are not making it easy for Last year's runners up Karnataka at Indore. MP though folded up meekly in their first innings and conceded a big lead of 161 runs, fought back well in their second innings and are in lead by 151 runs with 3 wickets in hand. They scored at over 4 runs per over and in the last session the run rate was almost 6 runs per over. After conceding the first innings lead MP have nothing to lose and are going for a win. They will add another quick 40 runs and set a target of around 200 runs. Karnataka were guilty of defensive approach in MP's second innings and may end up paying dearly for that strategy. All this season Karnataka's batting has been very average and tomorrow will be the biggest test.

The Quarter Final draw is such that the plate qualifiers are always drawn to meet the finalists of previous years Ranji Trophy Final. Hence no one expects them to proceed beyond the first knock out match. But this year has been different. Rajasthan is almost sure of delivering the knock out punch to Mumbai and whether Karnataka will get such a punch from MP will be known by tomorrow evening. My gut feeling is that Karnataka may just get the knock out punch.

Kudos and a round of applause to plate league qualifiers - Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

in the 3rd QF match at Rohtak, Haryana have put up a good batting performance against Tamil Nadu by reaching 379 for six and have declared at the same score. Fog and bad weather robbed almost 2 days play. With one day to go TN are at 72/2 and need to score 307 more, weather permitting. If first innings remains unfinished with TN still trailing then the winner will be decided on net run rate.

In the 4th QF match at Vadodara, Baroda are having it easy against Railways. Railways are 52 runs ahead with 6 second innings wickets in hand. With the last day coming up Baroda are almost sure of a SF birth.