Ranji Trophy | A wounded Karnataka will be on the hunt for a knockouts spot

A wounded Karnataka will take on Punjab in an all-important Ranji Trophy final round Elite Group-B fixture at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium here from Thursday.

Last week’s chastening 217-run defeat to Madhya Pradesh (MP) has landed Karnataka (21 points) in a four-way battle for the two knock-out berths with Maharashtra (24), MP (22) and Saurashtra (19).

And so calamitous was the performance that it triggered a captaincy change, with Devdutt Padikkal taking over from Mayank Agarwal.

The 25-year-old southpaw will have his task cut out. First up, he will pray that the sky is clear, for Chandigarh is in the midst of an unseasonal wet spell, with the winter temperatures making things doubly difficult.

Karun Nair – Karnataka’s highest scorer this campaign with 614 runs – is injured and so is speedster V. Vyshak. Padikkal himself bagged a pair versus MP and will hope to regain the touch that helped him amass 725 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The entry of India regulars K.L. Rahul and Prasidh Krishna will however come as a ray of sunshine. 

So will the form of K.V. Aneesh – gritty knocks of 92 and 57 against MP – and the return of middle-order batter R. Smaran, who has made 595 runs this edition, and conjured a splendid double-century in Karnataka’s innings and 207-run victory over Punjab in January 2025.

The host, on the other hand, is out of the reckoning (11 points from six matches). A top-draw white-ball side, Punjab has gone three straight seasons without making the Ranji Trophy knockouts.

Even Shubman Gill’s august presence couldn’t save the outfit as it recently lost to Saurashtra by 194 runs in under two days.

The India captain did not practise on Wednesday and is an outside bet for the Karnataka tie. In all probability, he will have a nearly two-month break without any competitive action, a rare scenario in Indian cricket.