BENGALURU: As the Karnataka team exited the KSCA Alur stadium on Thursday evening after being humbled by Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals, dusk was settling in. The interplay between the elements resulted in a literal silver lining settling around a dark cloud as the team’s buses wended their way to the city. Sadly, there wasn’t much for Karnataka to take away from the match, barring the pacers’ performance in the first innings.
Karnataka ended the season without a title – they also made an appearance in the final of the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and reached the quarterfinal of the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, beaten both times by Tamil Nadu – thereby suggesting that it is time for introspection. While looking ahead is important, it is essential to look back at what went wrong, too.
One of the core areas where there was a lacuna was leadership. Manish Pandey is, without a doubt, one of the modern-day heroes of the state’s legacy. But recent performances have cast a cloud over his captaincy and his ability to bring and keep a team together.
Individually on more than one occasion this season, especially in the Ranji quarterfinals, he failed to shoulder the responsibility as the senior-most batsman in the line-up. His on-field communication with the team hasn’t been at its best; more importantly, his strategies have been questionable and he hasn’t been able to get players to toe the line.
A case in point was the league match against Jammu and Kashmir in Chennai earlier in the season. After scoring 302 in the first innings, Karnataka did well to bowl out the opposition for 93. Instead of enforcing a follow-on, they came out to bat again. The justification was that they were a bowler short, with Ronit More injured and Prasidh Krishna having bowled a long spell (12 overs split by the lunch break). With Prasidh on song, the onus was on Pandey to stand firm and gather his resources in the quest for the bonus point. Had that been achieved, Karnataka would have played relative lightweights Uttarakhand and not Uttar Pradesh in the quarters.
Both his dismissals in the match against UP were hardly becoming of a senior player, one who should have led by example. The one thing which has been evidently missing in Pandey in recent times is the spark and energy he usually brings to the field. A seasoned warhorse who has carried his bruises as a badge of honour while playing for Karnataka, he has been a pale shadow of his bustling self.
On Wednesday afternoon, UP needed 55 runs and Karnataka five wickets for victory at the start of the final session. When the teams returned after tea, it seemed as if the home team had lost the appetite for victory. Sapped energy, drooping shoulders and a sense of resignation hastened UP’s landmark march, which was anchored by 23-year-old Karan Sharma, a three-match-old captain who led by example. Pandey alone wasn’t culpable; the team management too ought to have worked towards keeping the leadership group together, especially when there was the experience of Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, R Samarth and KV Siddharth to fall back on.
For a while now, Karnataka’s shortcomings have been hidden behind sparkling individual performances, but championships are won by teams. Often, the eight-time Ranji champions have resembled a collection of 11 individuals and not a unit. The flavour of team spirit which used to waft from the dressing room seems lost amidst the pile of past glory, individual laurels and reputation.
Fazal Khaleel, the chairman of the selection committee, too should cop the blame for a job half-done. Picking a team is one thing, being there at the ground to see them in a competitive setting is another. Khaleel, who over the past few years has rarely seen Karnataka play, especially in away matches, ought to have been more proactive.
While Khaleel has emphasised on the need to blood youngsters, this line of thinking has been limited to the bowling department — the average age of the batting unit is 28. That was the age at which proven performers like Robin Uthappa, Ganesh Satish and Amit Verma were let go.
The coaches, Yere Goud and Sreenath Arvind, who have been given a prolonged stint, have some soul-searching to do.
Will heads roll and the riot act be read as Karnataka looks to reclaim lost pride?
Karnataka ended the season without a title – they also made an appearance in the final of the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and reached the quarterfinal of the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, beaten both times by Tamil Nadu – thereby suggesting that it is time for introspection. While looking ahead is important, it is essential to look back at what went wrong, too.
One of the core areas where there was a lacuna was leadership. Manish Pandey is, without a doubt, one of the modern-day heroes of the state’s legacy. But recent performances have cast a cloud over his captaincy and his ability to bring and keep a team together.
Individually on more than one occasion this season, especially in the Ranji quarterfinals, he failed to shoulder the responsibility as the senior-most batsman in the line-up. His on-field communication with the team hasn’t been at its best; more importantly, his strategies have been questionable and he hasn’t been able to get players to toe the line.
A case in point was the league match against Jammu and Kashmir in Chennai earlier in the season. After scoring 302 in the first innings, Karnataka did well to bowl out the opposition for 93. Instead of enforcing a follow-on, they came out to bat again. The justification was that they were a bowler short, with Ronit More injured and Prasidh Krishna having bowled a long spell (12 overs split by the lunch break). With Prasidh on song, the onus was on Pandey to stand firm and gather his resources in the quest for the bonus point. Had that been achieved, Karnataka would have played relative lightweights Uttarakhand and not Uttar Pradesh in the quarters.
Both his dismissals in the match against UP were hardly becoming of a senior player, one who should have led by example. The one thing which has been evidently missing in Pandey in recent times is the spark and energy he usually brings to the field. A seasoned warhorse who has carried his bruises as a badge of honour while playing for Karnataka, he has been a pale shadow of his bustling self.
On Wednesday afternoon, UP needed 55 runs and Karnataka five wickets for victory at the start of the final session. When the teams returned after tea, it seemed as if the home team had lost the appetite for victory. Sapped energy, drooping shoulders and a sense of resignation hastened UP’s landmark march, which was anchored by 23-year-old Karan Sharma, a three-match-old captain who led by example. Pandey alone wasn’t culpable; the team management too ought to have worked towards keeping the leadership group together, especially when there was the experience of Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, R Samarth and KV Siddharth to fall back on.
For a while now, Karnataka’s shortcomings have been hidden behind sparkling individual performances, but championships are won by teams. Often, the eight-time Ranji champions have resembled a collection of 11 individuals and not a unit. The flavour of team spirit which used to waft from the dressing room seems lost amidst the pile of past glory, individual laurels and reputation.
Fazal Khaleel, the chairman of the selection committee, too should cop the blame for a job half-done. Picking a team is one thing, being there at the ground to see them in a competitive setting is another. Khaleel, who over the past few years has rarely seen Karnataka play, especially in away matches, ought to have been more proactive.
While Khaleel has emphasised on the need to blood youngsters, this line of thinking has been limited to the bowling department — the average age of the batting unit is 28. That was the age at which proven performers like Robin Uthappa, Ganesh Satish and Amit Verma were let go.
The coaches, Yere Goud and Sreenath Arvind, who have been given a prolonged stint, have some soul-searching to do.
Will heads roll and the riot act be read as Karnataka looks to reclaim lost pride?
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
