Karnataka gears up for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy sans KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey

BENGALURU: Karnataka have made the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy their own of late, winning back-to-back titles in the last two seasons. Their effort to clinch the title for a record third straight time is going to be tricky this time out. Three of their principal batting stars — KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal (both on international duty) and Manish Pandey (ruled out due to tennis elbow) — are all out. That's before you factor in the bio-bubble setting the tournament will be played, a challenge in itself

Though the domestic season gets underway with the T20 tournament in six different venues, several Karnataka players come into this tournament with some match practice under their belt. They featured in some KSCA inter-club tournaments — YSR Memorial tournament (50 overs) and the KSCA T20 tournament — in the last few months but Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is going to be much more competitive.

Karnataka, who are in Elite Group A, open their account against Jammu and Kashmir in Alur on Sunday. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Railways and Tripura are other teams in the group with all matches in Bengaluru. With the top side in the group guaranteed a quarterfinal spot, teams will have to be consistent and the likes of skipper Karun Nair, Devdutt Padikkal and others have to deliver.

"We can't replace those three players (Manish, Mayank and Rahul) because they are a class apart and are India players. But if you see, when we won the first Mushtaq Ali title two seasons ago, we didn't have KL in the squad. So youngsters have shown that they can step up when it matters the most. They must see this as another opportunity to make a mark," said Karnataka head coach Yere Goud, who added that with several of his players having already featured in a bio-secure environment in the IPL, it helped their preparations.

If they might need some new heroes in the batting department, their bowling unit looks much settled. The likes of Shreyas Gopal, K Gowtham, J Suchith, Abhimanyu Mithun, Prasidh Krishna and Ronit More among others have been a regular feature and their experience of being part of victorious units will come in handy as the competition progresses further.

But, Goud does not want to burden his players by thinking about what they have achieved in the past.

"This format itself is a high-pressure one. On top of it we can't burden ourselves by thinking that we are two-time defending champions. It's a tricky tournament. Because one over can change the match scenario or any team can surprise you. The moment you start overthinking, you are in trouble. So we will keep things simple and want to have a clear vision. We just have to worry about what's in our control and not think too far ahead," the coach said.

No media, crowd and telecast

Besides media and spectators getting barred from being present at the venue, matches in Alur will not be broadcast live on any platforms, including on Hotstar.