Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25: KL Rahul opts out of Karnataka squad citing rest after gruelling Australia tour

Cricketer KL Rahul was one of the few Indian batters who looked solid in defence and played some crucial knock in the middle. He is the third most run getter for India as the batters amassed 276 runs across five Tests at an average of 30.67. While all the other batters struggled, the trio of Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy did the hard yards for the team.

After an arduous series, Rahul was supposed to join the Karnataka team for the remaining rounds of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, as the team has reached the knockouts of the 50-over domestic tournament. But the wicketkeeper-batter has opted out of the tournament, requesting a break from the intense cricketing schedule and to reduce the workload.

On the other hand, other Karnataka players who were part of the Indian team in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 such as Devdutt Padikkal and Prasidh Krishna will join Karnataka in their trophy pursuit. Led by Mayank Agarwal, Karnataka topped the Group C with six wins in seven games. Their sole loss came against Hyderabad as they were beaten by three wickets.

Speaking of Padikkal and Prasidh Krishna, both the players just one game in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Padikkal played the first Test in Perth as Shubman Gill had injured his thumb and scored a duck and 25 runs in both innings. Prasidh featured in the fifth and final Test, played at the Sydney cricket Ground (SCG) and picked three wickets each in the first and second innings. Interestingly, in just one game, the pacer emerged as the third-highest wicket-taking bowler for the visiting side on the tour.

Also Read: India to announce squads for Champions Trophy, England series soon

Karnataka Squad

Mayank Agarwal (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Nikin Jose, K.V. Aneesh, R. Smaran, K.L. Shrijith, Abhinav Manohar, Shreyas Gopal (vc), Hardik Raj, Prasidh Krishna, V. Koushik, Vidyadhar Patil, Abhilash Shetty, Pravin Dubey, Luvnith Sisodia, Yashovardhan Parantap