Rajesh Dhar
JAMMU, Nov 8: Desperate for their first win of the tournament, Jammu and Kashmir will lock horns with Jharkhand in Group-B match of the Ranji Trophy at Jamshedpur from tomorrow.
While Jharkhand have earned 8 points out of 4 outings this season so far, J&K on the other hand, have just three points out of the four matches played this season.
Both the teams would be eager to prove a point as both have some quality cricketers in their kitty.
On the batting front, Jharkhand will rely on in-form Ishank Jaggi, Saurabh Tiwari and wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan, while on the other hand, J&K will heavily depend on their openers Shubham Khajuria and Ahmed Omar Bandey as the middle-order batsmen including Ian Dev Singh, Parvez Rasool, Puneet Bisht and Bandeep Singh have yet to do justice to their talent in the tournament so far. For J&K success, Rasool and Ian will have to deliver.
In the bowling department, Jammu and Kashmir will heavily bank on skipper Rasool, with speedster Mudhasir to play as a supporting role, while Jharkhand on the other hand, will rely on left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem along with skipper Varun Aaron and Jaskaran Singh.
J&K Management will have a tough job to do in picking the final XI as they have the fast bowlers like Umar Nazir and likes waiting in the wings in the benches for their turn and at the same time, their medium pacers not been impressive so far.
They will also be thinking of making some changes in picking the batsmen who can deliver better.
With just two matches remaining in the season, both the teams would love to finish it on a winning note.
Both the teams are almost equally poised and the one which will hold their nerves better in crunch situations will be the winner.
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