Ranji Trophy: Mayank Agarwal returns to Karnataka team for semi-finals against Saurashtra

Mayank Agarwal suffered a thumb injury during the Australia tour and didn’t play quarter-finals with the Karnataka squad.

Bengaluru: Mayank Agarwal has made his comeback into the Karnataka squad to face Saurashtra in the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy. The match between the two teams will be played at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy stadium on January 24. Agarwal missed the quarter-final match due to a thumb injury that he suffered during India’s tour of Australia.

Mayank Agarwal’s return will no doubt be an advantage to the Karnataka team. Mayank holds a batting average of 65 in Tests and 50.6 in First Class cricket. The right-handed batsman made his debut in the Boxing Day Test against Australia and scored 76 runs in the first innings, sharing 40 runs for the first wicket with Hanuma Vihari.

The impetus seems to be with the Karnataka side. Karnataka defeated Rajasthan in the quarter-finals with six wickets to spare and now aim to get past Saurashtra in the semi-final at their home ground.

Squad: Manish Pandey (Captain), Shreyas Gopal (Vice-Captain), R. Vinay Kumar, D. Nischal, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Samarth R, Mithun A, Ronit More, Gowtham K, Prasidh M Krishna, Siddharth KV, Suchith J, Sharath BR, Sharath Srinivas.