Hrishikesh Kanitkar

Jaipur/Vadodara: On a high after ousting 39-time champions Mumbai, giant-killers Rajasthan would aim to continue their stunning show when they take on Tamil Nadu, in a Ranji Trophy semi-final clash, in Jaipur, from Monday.

The hosts, who have surprised all by climbing up from the bottom of the Plate League to the semi-final stage, have gained in confidence after their fine performance against Mumbai in the quarter final.

They had never gone past Mumbai in the past and the last-eight win over the defending champions has given Rajasthan a shot in the arm.

With momentum on their side, Rajasthan are suddenly the favourites against a Tamil Nadu side who are not in the best of forms.

The onus would once again be on Aakash Chopra, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Rashmiranjan Parida who have been in great form. Former Indian opener Chopra has a triple hundred under his belt, apart from few other gutsy knocks. Skipper Kanitkar, too, is having a good season with the bat and has also scored a double hundred. Parida has been among the runs as well.

Apart from the experienced trio, Vineet Saxena was a revelation as he plundered 143 against a strong Mumbai attack. Rajasthan’s bowling, too, seems to be penetrative with Pankaj Singh in good form. The upcoming Deepak Chahar, who hogged the limelight after taking eight for 10 to send Hyderabad packing for 21, has been improving with each outing.

On the other hand, Tamil Nadu haven’t performed that well as a team though they have some good players like Sathish, Dinesh Kartik, S. Badrinath and L. Balaji. However, they will miss the services of spinner R. Ashwin, who has taken 24 wickets this season, as he is on national duty in South Africa.

In the other semi-final, in Vadodara, a cracker of a contest is on the cards when last year’s runner-up Karnataka take on a resurgent Baroda.

Karnataka, six-time Ranji champions, who last won the coveted title in 1998-99, have had a good season thus far with a brood of talented youngsters performing consistently with the bat and ball.

Baroda, on their part, will be looking to exploit the home advantage to inch a step closer towards realising their dreams of reaching the final.

Karnataka have been the team to watch this season, winning three Super League matches including one by an innings and 33 runs against Orissa and getting the better of Madhya Pradesh in the quarter finals.

For Karnataka, the responsibility lies on the shoulders of Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey to spearhead the young guns who have been in blazing from right through the season.

In the pace department, the fast bowling trio of R. Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Arvind have done commendably well, accounting for 65 wickets between them while veteran left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi has grabbed 25 wickets. (Agencies)