Karnataka face off Uttar Pradesh in a heavyweight clash in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023 on Wednesday. The match will be played at Abhimanyu Cricket Academy, Dehradun. While the two teams take each other on the playing field, the fantasy cricket managers have a chance to pick their favourite players and form their teams. The performance of the players on the field will translate to points for each fantasy team picked, and the manager with the team with the most points stands a chance to win attractive prizes.
Uttar Pradesh had a terrific outing against Tripura in their last match, where they emerged victorious by 68 runs. Batting first, they made 189 runs for the loss of three wickets courtesy of half-centuries from Sameer Rizvi and Rinku Singh. Tripura could only manage 121 runs in response, as Mohsin Khan starred with a spell of 3/20 in the second innings.
Karnataka are off to a good start in the tournament, much like their Wednesday’s opponents. They are coming into this match on the back of a thumping win against Nagaland. Nagaland were restricted to 67/9 in 20 overs and Mayank Agarwal’s team took only 7.5 overs to complete the run chase.
Both Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have picked up two wins, one defeat and another match was abandoned.
Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh probable playing XIs
Karnataka
Mayank Agarwal (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Krishnan Shrijith, Manish Pandey, Sharath BR (wk), Manoj Bhandage, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shubhang Hegde, Prasidh Krishna, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Vijaykumar Vyshak.
Uttar Pradesh
Karan Sharma (c), Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shiva Singh, Yash Dayal, Kartik Tyagi, Jasmer Dhankhar, Mohsin Khan.
Pitch and weather report
The pitches here in Dehradun will assist the bowlers, as the stats suggest and both teams will be cautious with their ambitions. The average first-innings score in T20 matches here is 114 runs. The weather conditions, meanwhile, are expected to remain consistent throughout the afternoon with the temperatures ranging from 25-28 degrees during the game time.
Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh fantasy XI
Wicket-keepers: Krishnan Shrijith
Batters: Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sameer Rizvi
All-rounders: Krishnappa Gowtham, Karan Sharma
Bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Prasidh Krishna, Mohsin Khan
Although both teams are pretty strong, we are tipping the scale slightly in Karnataka’s favour in the fantasy XI, with six of their players featuring in the XI.
Among keeping options, Krishnan Shrijith has looked in good touch although he has had very little to do with the bat.
Manish Pandey and Mayank Agarwal too, have had very little to contribute and it is interesting to note that none of the Karnataka batters have scored a half-century so far. However, both these batters bring in experience and are capable of scoring big. Rinku Singh is a top choice among Uttar Pradesh batters alongside youngster Sameer Rizvi, who has scored 160 runs so far at a strike-rate of 172.04.
Krishnappa Gowtham, among all-rounders, is a top pick alongside UP skipper Karan Sharma. Gowtham is the leading wicket-taker for Karnataka in the tournament, while Karan Sharma is capable of contributing points with the bat and ball.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a must among bowlers, he has already picked up five wickets in three matches. Vijaykumar Vyshak and Prasidh Krishna, who picked up six wickets between themselves, are the bowling options from Karnataka.
Captain: Krishnappa Gowtham
Krishnappa Gowtham has been one of the stars of Karnataka’s campaign in the ongoing tournament. Besides picking up five wickets in three matches at an exceptional economy of 4.50, he packs a punch with the bat as well.
Vice-captain: Rinku Singh
Rinku Singh is a proven match-winner in the short format and was part of India’s gold medal-winning team at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou. He scored 130 runs at a strike rate of 154.76, which includes two half-centuries. He is bound to offer you a lot of fantasy points and is a worthwhile option for captaincy or vice-captaincy.
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