Lucknow, Read: The semi-final match of Ranji Trophy will start from Sunday at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in the capital. The Uttarakhand team, which has reached the last four for the first time in its short seven-year Ranji history, will challenge the strong Karnataka. On Saturday, both the teams sweated profusely in the practice session and finalized their strategies.

The Karnataka team, adorned with veteran players, will take the field with the intention of making it to the finals. The team has experienced batsmen like Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal and Karun Nair. KL Rahul is also likely to be included in the semi-finals, which can further strengthen the batting order. Young batsman Ravindran Smaran (688 runs) and all-rounder Shreyas Gopal (41 wickets and 442 runs) can prove to be important for the team.

The basis of Uttarakhand’s success has been collective performance. The axis of the team’s batting is Kunal Chandela (709 runs). In bowling, spinners Swapnil Singh (52 wickets) and Jagadishan Suchit (46 wickets) have surprised the opposing teams. The captain will be expecting big innings from Bhupen Lalwani and Prashant Chopra, while Avnish Sudha’s return to form is boosting the morale of the team. This match between the two teams is expected to be exciting, where a tough competition between experience and youth can be seen.