Away from the hustle and bustle of the capital city, there is a certain passion for the game here that is touching, and untouched. By itself, Mysore is a verdant, vibrant city in its own right, but while it's not quite an outpost, it is by no means a massive cricket centre.

The enthusiasm leading up to Karnataka's Ranji Trophy Super League clash against Rajasthan has got to infectious. The home side, which ran into a tartar in Tamil Nadu in its last game, ought to be buoyed by the response and the interest here as they seek to bring their Group A campaign back on track.

In fifth position out of eight teams after the first three matches, Yere Goud's men know that, at the Gangotri Glades from Saturday, Rajasthan offer them an outstanding opportunity to garner full points and spring back into serious reckoning. The likes of Maharashtra, Delhi, Mumbai and Saurashtra have done the early running. It is up to the six-time former champions to respond now if they seriously entertain hopes of a knockout slot. On a track expected to aid the stroke-makers and the quicker bowlers early on with bounce, and then evolve into a turner — the general consensus is that midway through day two, the turning ball will be the norm — pointless Rajasthan would appear the perfect opposition for Karnataka to play themselves back into confidence and points.

Eight points from three matches played aren’t the worst returns, but Karnataka have already got lowly Himachal Pradesh out of the way, and might yet live to rue their woefully sub-par performance against Tamil Nadu last week.

Struggling to make their presence felt in Group 'A', Tamil Nadu conjured one massive effort at the Chidambaram stadium to scuttle Karnataka's designs of taking a giant step towards the semifinals. A solitary point for conceding a mammoth 200-run first-innings lead has transferred the pressure totally back on the hosts, who know that anything less than the full complement here will mean the mountain will get steeper and steeper.

Man for man, Karnataka are the vastly superior outfit. The trick lies in translating that superiority into meaningful performances, and that is where they came a cropper in Chennai. Collectively, Chennai was a supreme disaster, neither the batting nor the bowling offering any encouragement in the first innings. There is, though, no denying the quality percolating through the ranks, not when the side boasts the likes of Robin Uthappa and Thilak Naidu, R Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa.

Rajasthan have been the favourite whipping boys in this group, losing outright to Delhi, Maharashtra and then Saurashtra. Their batting has been a massive disappointment, only old hand Gagan Khoda showing any consistency. With the ball, paceman Pankaj Singh has ploughed a lone furrow, taking 20 wickets in three games, including five in each innings in the season-opener at the Ferozeshah Kotla.

Sporadic shows of individual brilliance are unlikely to help Rajasthan break their duck against an outfit as seasoned and experienced as Karnataka. Mohammad Aslam, the veteran left-arm spinner, must demand — and extract — a collective effort for the Rajasthanis to ask embarrassing questions of Karnataka. Especially after their last match, the hosts are well aware that merely turning up is no guarantee for success. Rajasthan may not quite have the class of their opponents, but there is experience in the shape of — Khoda and Aslam apart — Vineet Saxena, Nikhil Doru and Sumit Mathur. Saying that, this will definitely not be a battle of the equals when it comes to skill, though in hunger and desire, neither side should want to concede an inch to the other.

Teams (from): Karnataka: Yere Goud (capt), Robin Uthappa, KB Pawan, Sudhindra Shinde, C Raghu, Thilak Naidu, B Akhil, Sunil Joshi, R Vinay Kumar, NC Aiyappa, KP Appanna, S Dhananjaya, Udit Patel, Bharat Chipli, Devraj T Patil.

Rajasthan: Mohammad Aslam (capt), Manish Sharma, Afroz Khan, Vineet Saxena, Gagan Khoda, Nikhil Doru, Rohit Jhalani, Abhijit Sharma, Nishant Singh, Pankaj Singh, Robin Bisht, Rajesh Bishnoi, Shamsher Singh, Sumit Mathur.
Umpires: Ravi Deshmukh (Baroda) and AY Gokhale (Mumbai). Match referee: Balbir Singh (Punjab).
Hours of play: 0930-1200 hours, 1240-1440 hours and 1500-close of play.