For the primary time since he made his debut in 2013-14, Karun Nair has been dropped from the Karnataka red-ball squad, forward of its opening two Ranji Trophy encounters towards Services and Pondicherry in Bengaluru.
The 31-year-old, solely the second Indian Test batter to attain a triple-century, has had a forgettable few years. First neglected for the white-ball codecs this season, Karun now finds himself out of the reckoning in red-ball cricket too.
“Dear cricket, give me one more chance,” Karun tweeted on Saturday, however with the choice panel led by Fazal Khaleel seemingly keen to construct the Karnataka facet for the longer term – as seen from the inclusions of Nikin Jose and 18-year-old Vishal Onat within the 15-man checklist – it could be some time till Karun is reconsidered.
This is Onat’s maiden call-up and has been rewarded for his exploits within the Cooch Behar U-19 Trophy the place he has scored 575 runs in 5 league-stage matches, with a highest rating of 296.
Jose, 20, has been in splendid type of late, raking up 447 runs at a median of 55.87 within the not too long ago concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. In the lengthy format, he topped the batting charts within the KSCA first division league with 715 runs.
Batter Devdutt Padikkal, who’s recovering from an sickness, was not included whereas speedster Prasidh Krishna, who has been out of motion due to a again damage, is but to be declared match-fit.
The Mayank Agarwal-led facet will start its marketing campaign towards Services beginning on Tuesday.