Bengaluru: Upcoming all-rounder Aneeshwar Gautam, who was part of the India U-19 team which emerged world champions last week, has been named in the
Karnataka squad for the Ranji Trophy season beginning on February 17. The 19-year-old left-handed batsman and left-arm spinner featured in two matches – against Ireland and Uganda.
Karnataka are placed in Elite C group along with Railways, Jammu and Kashmir and Pondicherry in the competition. The team, led by Manish Pandey with R Samarth as is deputy, has a star-studded batting line-up which includes Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal and KV Siddharth. The spin department will be led by the seasoned duo of K Gowtham and
Shreyas Gopal with J Suchith in the mix along with KC Cariappa. White-ball season’s consistent performer Pravin Dubey has been left out.
The pace attack is spearheaded by Ronit More, who makes his comeback from injury which kept him out of the shorter format this season. Prasidh Krishna, who is currently on India duty, has been included. Rookies
Venkatesh M
,
Vidhyadhar Patil
and
Vyshak Vijaykumar
complete the line-up of pacers.
PEP TALK BY GRVThe team, which leaves for Chennai on Thursday, was in for a surprise as the legendary GR Viswanath gave away autographed team kits and spoke to the players.
The 72-year-old dwelt on the importance of playing for the state and the role of seniors in the squad.
“The culture and history of our state cricket is very rich. KSCA is my second home, I’ve played a lot of cricket first for Mysore and then Karnataka. This is where all our dreams begin,” he said.
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