Karnataka announce 20-member squad for Vijay Hazare Trophy; Manish Pandey to lead side

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) announced a 20-member squad on Friday, November 26, for the upcoming season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. India's 32-year-old batter Manish Pandey will lead the team in the country's premier 50-over domestic tournament. Ravikumar Samarth will serve as his deputy for the competition.

Opener Devdutt Padikkal, who finished as the team's leading run-scorer in the previous season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, will not feature in the latest edition as he is currently in South Africa with the India A team. The southpaw enjoyed a dream run last season as he amassed 737 runs from just seven games.

They do have a number of senior campaigners in their side, including Karun Nair, Jagadeesha Suchith, K C Cariappa and Shreyas Gopal. Karnataka have a fabulous record in the format and they will be aiming to clinch their record fifth Vijay Hazara title this year.

Karnataka squad for Vijay Hazare Trophy: Manish Pandey (C), Rohan Kadam, Samarth R (VC), Karun Nair, Siddharth K V, Abhinav Manohar, Nischal D, Sharath B R, Sharath Srinivas, Suchith J, Shreyas Gopal, K C Cariappa, Ritesh Bhatkal, Pravin Dubey, Vidyadhar Patil, Koushik V, Prateek Jain, Darshan M B, Vyshak V and Venkatesh M.

Karnataka to take on Punducherry in their opening fixture

The Manish Pandey-led side are placed in Elite Group B along with Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Baroda, Bengal, Karnataka and Punducherry. They are scheduled to open their campaign on December 8, with their clash against Punducherry at the KCS Cricket Ground in Manglapuram.

The team performed brilliantly in the group stage matches last season as they lost four out of their five fixtures. However, they were ultimately eliminated from the competition after their semi-final defeat against Mumbai.

After an impressive performance in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Karnataka will be keen to put up a strong showing in the 50-over format as well.