Karnataka fret over pacers ahead of Thimmappiah tourney

Bengaluru: Karnataka selectors would be looking to build a healthy pace unit ahead of the Ranji Trophy when the all-India Capt K Thimmappiah memorial tournament commences at various venues here and Mysuru from Thursday.

With Vyshakh Vijaykumar injured, Koushik V moving to Goa and Prasidh Krishna joining the National Cricket Academy, ahead of the home Test series against West Indies, Karnataka aren't left with many experienced options. 

Karnataka, as has been the norm, have fielded four teams in the 16-team event with a good spread of pacers. 

While a fit-again Vidwath Kaverappa is good news, they would be wary of potential injuries in a long tournament and will have to judiciously use their services.

Among the batters, the returning Karun Nair is still nursing an injury while Mayank Agarwal would be turning up in County cricket. Abhinav Manohar and Shubang Hegde, among a few others, have been sidelined after sustaining injuries in the just-concluded Maharaja Trophy T20 event.    

KSCA XI: Smaran R (captain), Macneil Noronha, Aneesh KV, Shrijith KL (wk), Shreyas Gopal, Yashovardhan Parantap, Hardik Raj, Shashikumar K, Vidwath Kaverappa, Vidyadhar Patil, Abhilash Shetty, Luvnith Sisodia (wk), Nathan D'Mello, Goutham Mishra, Santosh Hatti. Coach: Mansur Ali Khan; S&C coach: Irfanulla Khan; Physiotherapist: Abhishek Kulkarni; Video analyst: Giri Prasad.

KSCA President's XI: Kishan S Bedare (captain), Karthik SU, Jasper EJ, Harshawardhan Khuba, Niranjan, Sujay Sateri (wk), Adhoksh Hegde, Shreesha S Achar, Dhanush Gowda, Aaditya Nair, Pravesh KM, Nithin Shanthaveri, Yash Raj Punja, Rajendra Danganavar, Sharath Srinivas. Coach: Adithya Sagar; Coach: SR Deepu; S&C coach: Kiran A; Physiotherapist: Akshay; Video analyst: Kiran Kudtarkar.

KSCA Secretary's XI: SJ Nikin Jose (captain), Yashwanth BN, Tushar Singh, Samit Dravid, Lochan S Gowda, Kruthik Krishna (wk), Dheeraj J Gowda, Venkatesh M, Rajvir Wadhwa, Nishchith Pai, Faizan Khan (wk), Swaroop SH, Abhishek Ahlawat, Aditya Rao, Madhav P Bajaj, Dhruv Prabhakar. Coach: Kunal Kapoor; S&C coach: Snehit Rai; Physiotherapist: Anush; Video analyst: Pradeep.

KSCA Colts XI: Aneeshwar Gautam (captain), Prakhar Chaturvedi, Vishal Onat, Harshil Dharmani, Karthikeya KP, Sanjay Ashwin (wk), Mohsin Khan, Shikhar Shetty, Samarth Nagaraj, Monish Reddy, Ishaan S, Shreyank Sagar, Anirudh Srinivas (wk), Toufeeq S, Abhay Rangan, Aarav Mahesh. Coach: Somashekar Shiraguppi; S&C coach: Basavaraj; Physiotherapist: Joby Mathew; Video analyst: Rajeev P.