Karnataka, Mumbai look to cement quarterfinal berth

Hosts Karnataka and 40-time champions Mumbai will be hoping to cement their quaterfinal berths when the two teams meet each other in their penultimate Group A Ranji Trophy match beginning at KSCA Stadium here tomorrow.
Karnataka are presently leading the group with 26 points from six games, with Mumbai closely behind on 23 points from as many matches.
Cricket followers are in for an extravagant treat as both sides would not like to be holed up in a pressure-cooker like situation by conceding far too many points and create an headache for themselves.
And in their next match starting tomorrow, Karnataka, who have registered three consecutive outright victories, will be hoping to make life difficult star-studded Gujarat, who are number three with 20 points, and Delhi (19 points).

"We are table-toppers. They (Mumbai) are second. We don't want to fritter away the chance. We have a very good bowling attack. There is a bit of grass on the wicket. It may help seamers for the first two days, then it will become a good batting track," Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar said.
Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer said Karnataka are a good team having depth in their batting and bowling.

"This home side is similar to one which we played against in Mysore some years back. They have good batting and bowling line-up," he said.
With 612 runs under his belt, which includes a century and three half centuries, opener Lokesh Rahul has been the leading run-getter for Karnataka.

He, in company of Mayank Agarwal, would like to give a rollicking start to get hold of the match against Mumbai.
Agarwal, who had a great beginning to his Ranji career by cracking 90 runs at debut against Jharkhand, would love to get back the lost touch.
Manish Pandey, who stamped his class by hitting a sparkling century against Punjab in the last game, would also carry the sublime form into tomorrow's match.