Srinagar, January 10: J&K is set to start its campaign of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament against hosts and defending champions Karnataka at KSCA Cricket Ground Alur, Benguluru on Sunday .
J&K this year has ben kept in Elite Group A – which also includes Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Railways and Tripura. While J&K did reasonably well last season in the tournament , this time it is going to difficult outing for the Parvez Rasool lead side. Its first match of the tournament is going to be real test as Karnataka are known as powerhouse of T20 format . The J&K squad also includes rising star Abdul Salad who recently played in Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad. His power hitting is likely going to be game changed for J&K this time.
The main drawback this time would be that before the the start of the tournament only two days practice was allowed for teams due to COVID-19 protocols put in place by BCCI.
The 33 member J&K squad had arrived in Benguluru on January 2 and had to undergo quarantine and three levels of COVID-19 tests up to Janaury 8. In first COVID-19 test two J&K players had tested positive while as other two tests came out negative for rest of the squad .
Team was allowed to train on Friday and Saturday while as two players who had tested positive have been kept away from team.