The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has added KL Rahul and Prasidh Krishna to their squad for the last group stage of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy against Punjab.
The international cricketers recently featured in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) for Karnataka but haven’t played any red-ball games in the ongoing season. Rahul and Prasidh had demanded extra rest following the end of the India vs New Zealand ODI series and skipped Karnataka’s last match against Madhya Pradesh, which they lost by 217 runs.
Padikkal replaces Agarwal as captain
Meanwhile, KSCA has replaced Mayank Agarwal with Devdutt Padikkal as Karnataka’s captain for the match at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium, Mohali, from January 29. Agarwal has averaged 33.11 in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, while Padikkal recently scored 725 runs at 90.62 in the VHT.
Padikkal has played just 2 matches for Karnataka in the ongoing Ranji Trophy and will make his red-ball captaincy debut. He has led Karnataka in one match before, in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2023.
Karun Nair out with injury
Karun Nair, who didn’t bat in the second innings against Madhya Pradesh, has been ruled out of the Punjab fixture. The veteran batter had picked up an injury, and Karnataka had used the ‘serious injury replacement substitute’ rule to replace him with Nikin Jose.
KSCA has confirmed that Nair is under rehabilitation, but didn’t mention what injury he’s dealing with. Meanwhile, Abhinav Manohar, who scored 14 and 6 against Madhya Pradesh, has been dropped from the team.
The last group stage will be crucial for Karnataka since they are placed 3rd on the Group B points table with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh ahead and Saurashtra on their tail.
Karnataka squad against Punjab
Mayank Agarawal, KL Rahul, Aneesh KV, Devdutt Padikkal (c), Smaran R, Shreyas Gopal, Kruthik Krishna (wk), Venkatesh M, Vidyadhar Patil, Vidwath Kaverappa, Prasidh M Krishna, Mohsin Khan, Shikhar Shetty, Shrijith KL (wk), Dhruv Prabhakar
