Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Manish Pandey Named Karnataka's Captain; Devdutt Padikkal Included In 20-Man Squad

Experienced India batsman Manish Pandey returns to the Karnataka squad and has been named the captain for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 2021/22 tournament.

Openers Mayank Agarwal and Devdutt Padikkal, both of whom are coming off fantastic IPL seasons, have also been named in the 20-man squad while KL Rahul misses out due to T20 World Cup duties.

Manish Pandey, who recently appeared for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2021, missed out last season due to an elbow injury; he takes back the captaincy from Karun Nair, who led the side to a quarterfinal finish last season. Pavan Deshpande, who was Nair’s deputy, has been dropped while Abhimanyu Mithun has retired from all forms of cricket.

Karnataka won back-to-back titles, in 2018-19 and 2019-20, however, bowed out at the quarterfinal stage last season with a loss against Punjab. Karnataka will face Mumbai for their first match on November 4.

Karnataka squad for SMAT 2021/22:

Manish Pandey (C), Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, KV Siddharth, Rohan Kadam, Anirudha Joshi, Abhinav Manohar, Karun Nair, Sharath BR, Nihal Ullal, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jagadeesha Suchith, Pravin Dubey, KC Cariappa, Prasidh Krishna, Prateek Jain, Vyshak Vijaykumar, MB Darshan, Vidyadhar Patil.

Head coach: Yere Goud

Bowling coach: Sreenath Arvind

Fielding coach: Deepak Chougule

Tamil Nadu to miss Washington Sundar, Dinesh Karthik

Tamil Nadu have been given a double blow as all-rounder Washington Sundar and captain Dinesh Karthik, who led them to the title last season, have been ruled out of the tournament.

Sundar has been advised a further one month rest by National Cricket Academy head Rahul Dravid to recover from his finger injury while Karthik is recovering from a knee issue which he picked up during the IPL and has been advised six weeks of rest.

Vijay Shankar will lead Tamil Nadu in Karthik’s absence. They will be boosted by the return of a fit T Natarajan.

“Karthik had played the IPL playoffs (for Kolkata Knight Riders) after taking injections. So we have replaced him with Vijay Shankar as captain,” Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary S Ramaswami told Cricbuzz.

The SMAT 2021/22 will begin on November 4 and the teams have been asked to report at the venue on October 27. Tamil Nadu, the defending champions, are clubbed with Punjab, Orissa, Maharashtra, Goa and Pondicherry in Elite Group A.

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