Kapoor, More for Subbaiah

Two new faces have been included in the 15-member Karnataka squad that will take part in the South Zone one-day tournament for the KS Subbaiah Pillai Trophy, beginning here from Monday.

Middle-order batsman Kunal Kapoor, a consistent performer for the State under-22 and 25 sides, and promising medium pacer Ronit More will get to test their mettle at a higher level after the J Abhiram-headed State Senior Selection Committee named the two in the squad and retained opener Robin Uthappa as the captain. All-rounder Stuart Binny will be the deputy to Uthappa.

In a squad that doesn’t have many surprises, the only notable omission is that of opener KB Pawan, a prolific scorer in the longer format but somewhat found wanting in the shorter format.

“Robin is an ideal captain for this format,” pointed out Abhiram whose team has reposed its faith in the Kodava lad who led the State squad in the South Zone T20 tournament late last year in Chennai where they finished runners-up.
 
More, who caught the eye with his impressive performamces in the Karnataka Premier League for Belgaum Panthers, has made rapid strides and the right-arm quick will in all likelihood partner Abhimanyu Mithun with the new ball. The Belgaum lad gets his chance in the absence of the injured pace duo of S Arvind and Aditya Sagar.    
 
The squad: Robin Uthappa (capt), Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Ganesh Satish, Manish Pandey, Amit Verma, Stuart Binny (vice-capt), Gautham CM (wk), Sunil Raju, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ronit More, Appanna KP, Kunal Kapoor, Raajoo Bhatkal, Abrar Kazi. Coach: K Jeswhanth; Asst coach: Somashekar Shiraguppi; Manager: R Sudhakar Rao; Physio: Shravan; Trainer: Abhinav Kumar.