Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Karnataka name unchanged 15-member squad for clash against Madhya Pradesh

What’s the story?

Karnataka have named an unchanged 15-member squad for their fixture against Madhya Pradesh, beginning on February 4th in Shimoga.

Karun Nair will continue to lead the side after taking over from Shreyas Gopal in the game against Railways. The leg-spinner will continue to serve as Nair’s deputy as Karnataka aim to build some momentum in the business end of the season.

In case you didn’t know

The South Indian side, having missed regular captain Manish Pandey for most of the season, find themselves in 4th place on the table, after managing only 3 outright wins in 6 matches.

Madhya Pradesh are currently languishing in 17th place, and are all but out of the race to make the knockout stages. Left-handed Rameez Khan leads the run-scoring charts for the Naman Ojha-led side with 410 runs in 6 matches so far, while Avesh Khan is their best bowler with 28 wickets in just 5 matches.

Also see – World Test Championship Schedule

Heart of the matter

Karnataka are set to play this fixture without the services of key players KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and Manish Pandey, who are away on national duty in New Zealand. The 2014-15 champions come into this match on the back of an unlikely victory on the final day of a rain-affected clash against Railways and will be confident of carrying the momentum forward.

Karnataka will be relying on the likes of 19-year-old batting prodigy Devdutt Padikkal and in-form pacer Ronit More to take them a step closer to the knockout stages. Having already won the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Karun Nair’s men will be keen on going all the way in the Ranji Trophy as well this season.

Full Squad:

Karun Nair(C), Shreyas Gopal(VC), Devdutt Padikkal, Ravikumar Samarth, Rohan Kadam, KV Siddharth, Pavan Deshpande, Sharath Srinivas(WK), Sharath BR(WK), Abhimanyu Mithun, Vasuki Koushik, Prateek Jain, Ronit More, Krishnappa Gowtham, Praveen Dubey

What's next?

With six vital points up for grabs, Karnataka will be eyeing yet another outright win from this encounter that could all but seal their place in the knockout stages.