All-rounder Stuart Binny, senior wicketkeeper-batsman CM Gautam and veteran paceman S Arvind have returned to Karnataka one-day side that will take on Hyderabad in the first quarterfinal of the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament on Wednesday.
Regular skipper R Vinay Kumar, however, continues to remain on the sidelines due to an elbow injury. Vinay had also skipped the last Group 'A' match here against Railways, and in his absence Karun Nair will lead the side in the match to be played in New Delhi.
Anirudha Joshi, Ritesh Bhatkal and Pravin Dubey have made way for the senior trio. Experienced pacer Abhimanyu Mithun continues to be rested. Gautam is back in the squad after missing four games in the group stage due to left thumb injury.
Karnataka's top-order has clicked and it is one of the prime reasons behind the two-time champions' progress to the knockout stage. Mayank Agarwal leads the run-chart with 412 runs with two hundreds and as many fifties. Karun (199) and R Samarth (171) have also chipped in with significant innings.
The inexperienced middle-order did trouble Karnataka, especially in their only defeat of the group stage to Punjab. Pavan Deshpande's (242) courageous effort brought some amount of balance in the line-up and the southpaw's form augurs well for Karnataka.
The young Prasidh Krishna (11) and T Pradeep (7), asked to fill in big shoes, have done justice to their roles. With Arvind back in the squad, Karnataka will look to make full use of the youth and experience at their disposal.
Team: Karun Nair (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Samarth R, Stuart Binny, Gautam CM (wk), Pavan Deshpande, Gowtham K, Shreyas Gopal, Prasidh Krishna, Arvind S, Ronit More, Suchith J, Pradeep T, Devdutt Padikal, Sharath B R (wk).
