KL Rahul released from Karnataka Ranji Squad

The star batsman of Karnataka KL Rahul has been released from Ranji squad due to his international commitments. He has been picked for the three-match T20I series against New Zealand which will commence from November 1 in Delhi. The youngster was surprisingly dropped from the ODI squad against the Kiwis but was retained for the shortest format given his exploits at the top of the order.

Rahul played the second match of the season for Karnataka against Hyderabad at home ground. But he couldn’t replicate his international form in whites into the domestic arena. Opening the batting for his team, he could only contribute 4 runs in the first innings and 23 in the second. Still, they managed to win the game by 59 runs after a brief scare courtesy the bowlers and a magnificent century from Karun Nair in the second innings.

Aravind also dropped from the squad

The right-handed batsman Dega Nischal has earned his maiden call-up to the state side and most likely will replace KL Rahul in the playing XI. The youngster was last featured in the Karnataka Premier League earlier this year. Also, Sreenath Aravind has been dropped from the squad by the team management and Ronit More is named as his replacement. Aravind was disappointing in the first two games of the season and could only scalp a solitary wicket.

Ronit More, if included in the playing XI for the next game, will play the first-class after a long gap of one year. Karnataka is all set to play their third match against Maharashtra which is also a tough side. They have won their games so far and are at the top in their group with 13 points. Maharashtra, on the other hand, are fourth in the table with 7 points to their name with the negative net run rate.

Karnataka squad for the battle against Maharashtra: Vinay Kumar (C), Ravikumar Samarth, Dega Nischal, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Kaunain Abbas, Pavan Deshpande, CM Gautam (WK), Stuart Binny, Krishnappa Gowtham, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ronit More, Shreyas Gopal, Jagadeesha Suchith, Sharath Srinivas (WK).