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Injured Vinay out of do-or-die game

Mithun rested as Karnataka take on Railways
Last Updated 15 February 2018, 15:35 IST

Skipper and pace spearhead R Vinay Kumar has opted out of Karnataka's do-or-die final Vijay Hazare Trophy Group 'A' game against Railways at Alur grounds on Friday while State selectors have chosen to rest fellow senior fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun.

With Baroda (16 points) having assured themselves a place in the knock-outs at New Delhi, only the winner of the clash between Karnataka (14) and Railways (12) will make the cut. In case of a washout, Karnataka will advance.

Despite the game bearing such huge significance, the selection committee has opted to place their faith in an untested pace pack. "Vinay has chosen to sit out of the match because of an injury. Apparently the doctors have advised him rest otherwise the injury could get aggravated. So he called me and asked not to be considered for the last game," said Chairman of Selectors Raghuram Bhat.

When queried about Mithun's exclusion, the former left-arm spinner said the paceman has been rested. "He's a Test cricketer and it's not nice to see him warm the benches. So we thought of resting him. While his Ranji Trophy performance has been good, his shows in Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy have not been great. They are three different formats and all of them have to be taken into consideration. We can't pick a team based on one format."

Bhat, who played two Tests for India, allayed concerns about fielding a raw pace attack for a crucial game. "The only way of finding out the quality of a player is by fielding him in high-pressure games. That's the only way you'll know how good or bad he is. Tomorrow is an opportunity for the youngsters.

"We need to build a side keeping the future in mind. If a player does well, he will remain part of the team. If he doesn't, he has to work his way back."

Coach PV Shashikanth, meanwhile, was confident of beating Railways. "Our batsmen Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, R Samarth and Pavan Deshpande have been in good form. With Alur favouring batsmen, I'm confident they will come good again. We are banking on them to deliver the goods."

On having to field an inexperienced bowling attack,  Shashikanth chose to see the brighter side. "Prasidh (Krishna) has taken six wickets in a game. K Gowtham gave us those two crucial wickets in the last game. J Suchith bagged five wickets in the last match. Shreyas (Gopal) is there. We are not worried."

The selectors, meanwhile, have added State under-19 and under-23 opener Devdutt Padikal  in the squad for the last match. The 18-year-old also bowls off-spinners.    

The squad: Karun Nair (captain), Mayank Agarwal, R Samarth, Pavan Deshpande, Sharath B R (wk), K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Prasidh Krishna, Pradeep T, Anirudha Joshi, Suchith J, Ritesh Bhatkal, Pravin Dubey, Ronit More, Devdutt Padikal.

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(Published 15 February 2018, 15:28 IST)

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