Uthappa to lead State in Ranji Trophy title round

With the Board of Control for Cricket in India turning down the KSCA’s request to advance the final by a day, Dravid will now fly out to Mumbai on Tuesday and leave for Bangladesh the following day ahead of the first Test in Chittagong on January 17.

All-rounder B Akhil, dropped from the squad midway through the season, makes his way back in to fill the breach caused by Dravid’s non-availability, though it is no guarantee that Akhil will edge out Stuart Binny for the final batting slot in the playing eleven.

Under Uthappa, and without Dravid in four games this season, Karnataka have registered three outright wins, though there is no denying that the former Indian skipper’s inspirational presence will be sorely missed by a young side in what is for almost the entire team the most important game of their lives so far.

The squad: Robin Uthappa (capt), KB Pawan, Ganesh Satish, Amit Verma, Manish Pandey, Stuart Binny, B Akhil, CM Gautam, Sunil Joshi, R Vinay Kumar, A Mithun, S Arvind, Udit Patel, KP Appanna, Aditya Sagar. Coach: K Sanath Kumar. Assistant coach: Somashekar Shiraguppi. Manager: R Ananth.