Stage set for Super League as teams brace for challenge sans star players

Cold mornings, pleasant afternoons and chilly evenings – that’s how the Pune weather has been recently. With the temperature expected to dip further over the next couple of days, the dew factor could play a major role in the evening fixtures of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Super League stage, beginning from Friday.

While that certainly is a concern for all the eight teams, they have plenty to ponder. Clarity of roles will be the key as most sides will be missing their star players, who are busy with international commitments.

While Mumbai will be without Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and U-19 star Ayush Mhatre, Punjab, too, will miss its top performers Abhishek Sharma and Arshdeep Singh.

It’s a similar story for Hyderabad. With its star batter Tilak Varma busy with the India vs South Africa T20I series, it will be a challenge for the young side to step up and deliver in the crucial phase of the competition. However, the team would heave a sigh of relief as seasoned fast bowler Mohammed Siraj is set to be available for the tournament. Siraj missed the training sessions, but is expected to join the team ahead of the opening fixture.

As a thick layer of fog engulfed the MCA Stadium on Thursday, the Mumbai batters – Ajinkya Rahane and Siddhesh Lad – spent a long time in the nets, while Yashasvi Jaiswal skipped the optional training session.

With matches also scheduled at the DY Patil Academy ground in Ambi, which hasn’t hosted too many games, assessing the conditions will be the key.

With batting-friendly surfaces likely to be on offer, it will be an opportunity for young guns like Musheer Khan and Mukul Choudhary, who replaced an injured Kartik Sharma for Rajasthan, to prove their mettle.

Today’s matches: Madhya Pradesh vs Andhra (9 a.m., DY Patil Academy), Rajasthan vs Haryana (11 a.m., MCA Stadium), Punjab vs Jharkhand (1.30 p.m., DY Patil Academy), Mumbai vs Hyderabad (4.30 p.m., MCA Stadium).