A foggy sky greeted the Kerala team when it arrived at the Moin-Ul-Haq stadium for practice on Wednesday morning and it did little to lift the sombre mood in the camp. The defeat to Mumbai at home was demoralising and the realisation that weather may play spoilsport in the must win game against Bihar deeply worried the visiting team. However, the weather cleared for the better on Thursday afternoon and the Kerala team had a full practice session.
The bright sunshine cheered up Kerala players who were eyeing a win against the weakest team in group-B. With four points from three matches, Kerala needs an outright win to set its stuttering campaign right in the tournament. Batting has been Kerala’s Achilles heel this season. The batting collapses has been a regular feature in all the three matches which Kerala played. Barring Sachin Baby, none of the top order batters have shown the required consistency this season. To add to the batting woes, Kerala will be without Sanju V. Samson, who skipped this match for personal reasons..
“Yes our batting is a big worry. We somehow have to stop these collapses. Our bowlers have been superb but the batters have let them down. We need to find the right batting combination and we will be making a few experiments in this match. We cannot take Bihar lightly. They gave a fight to Mumbai. So we must be ready to face tough resistance from them, Sanju will be missed but it is up to other batters to lift themselves and perform,” said the Kerala coach Venkataramana.
Kerala’s opening bowlers Basil Thampi and M.D. Nidheesh have bowled well in tandem and given the team early breakthroughs. With the conditions likely to aid them, the duo will hold the key to Kerala’s fortunes. Bihar, which won the plate championship last year, had its moments against Mumbai and came up with a gritty second innings batting display against Chhattisgarh. Kerala will have to play its best cricket to beat the host.
