Opening batsman Robin Uthappa is all set to return for Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy quarterfinal tie against Uttar Pradesh from January 8.

The right-hander, who featured in a couple of matches for Karnataka in the league phase before suffering a hamstring injury, will replace Mayank Agarwal at the top of the order.

Agarwal, who has been relatively successful in his first season with 380 runs from seven matches, has been selected to feature in Karnataka’s Col CK Nayudu (under-25) Trophy quarterfinal match against Himachal Pradesh at Dharamsala on January 5 instead.

“The under-25 quarterfinal is important too so we decided that it would be better to have Mayank playing at Dharamsala instead of making him sit on the reserve bench here,” said chief selector Sudhakar Rao.

Karnataka squad: R Vinay Kumar (captain), CM Gautam (vice-captain/ wicketkeeper), Robin Uthappa, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, R Samarth, Shreyas Gopal, Ronit More, Abhimanyu Mithun, HS Sharath, Abrar Kazi, Ganesh Satish, Amit Verma, KP Appanna. Batting coach: J Arun Kumar. Bowling coach: Mansur Ali Khan. Manager: B Siddaramu. Physio: M Vasanth. Video analyst: Santhosh. Logistic manager: A Ramesh Rao.