KL Rahul, Manish Pandey Not Included In Karnataka Squad

KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair will not be plying their trades in the Ranji Trophy-opener, Karnataka announced on Sunday (October 8). Karnataka will start their campaign against Assam, starting October 14 in Mysuru.

Both Rahul and and Pandey are part of the India team for the ongoing T20 series against Australia while Nair will ply his trade for Board President’s XI in the tour game against New Zealand. Meanwhile, it is more than likely that both Rahul and Pandey will miss for a longer period as India are set to have a busy home schedule ahead. After the series against Australia, the Men in Blue will take on New Zealand in a limited-overs series before Sri Lanka visits the country for a full-fledged series.

Coming to the squad, Abhishek Reddy, who missed the last season after suffering a career-threatening anterior cruciate ligament injury during the 2016 KPL, has been included in the 16-man squad. Reddy, nonetheless, has returned to action in style. He scored an unbeaten 201 for President’s XI in the Safi Darashah tournament in July before scoring another century for KSCA XI in the Dr Thimmappaiah All-India tournament. The team will be led by former India fast-bowler R Vinay Kumar.

Karnataka squad:

Vinay Kumar R (c), Samarth R, Abhishek Reddy, Mayank Agarwal, Mir Kaunain Abbas, Pavan Deshpande, Gautam CM (wk), Stuart Binny, Gowtham K, Mithun A, S Arvind, Shreyas Gopal, Suchith J, Nischal D, Sharath Srinivas (wk), Ronit More.