Karnataka have received a big boost ahead of a stern test against Delhi as KL Rahul and Manish Pandey have been added to the Ranji Trophy squad for the contest. While KL Rahul is a part of Indian team for the Test series against Sri Lanka, Pandey is not a member of the team in the longest format of the game.
KL Rahul will directly join the Indian camp after finishing the Ranji duty. He was not part of the ODI side against New Zealand and warmed the bench during the T20I series, hence, this game will provide him with the much need match practice.
He is team India’s first choice as an opener, and it will be either of Murali Vijay or Shikhar Dhawan who will partner him for at the crease right from the first over of the game.
Karnataka side also includes the likes of Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, Abhimanyu Mithun, Krishnappa Gowtham and captain R Vinay Kumar. CM Gautam will don the gloves once again.
Karnataka will face Delhi at Alur. Skipper R Vinay Kumar will have tough choices to make ahead of next contest as KL Rahul and Manish Pandey are an automatic entrant in the playing XI for the next contest.
Meanwhile, youngster Rishab Pant will lead Delhi Ranji team for the first time. He has replaced Ishant Sharma in the job, who has joined the Indian camp ahead of the series. Ishant could have also played the game, but BCCI has opted policy of resting pace bowlers ahead of the series. Along with Ishant, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav will also miss their team’s next Ranji tie.
The last time when Delhi and Karnataka faced each other, the Karun Nair led side defeated Gautam Gambhir led Delhi by a margin of an innings and 160 runs.
Karnataka squad: R Vinay Kumar (captain), KL Rahul, R Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Manish Pandey, Stuart Binny, CM Gautam (wk), Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ronit More, J Suchith, Pavan Deshpande, Mir Kaunain Abbas.
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