With the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockout stage commencing on Thursday at Vadodara, several key players are due to make their appearances for the first time since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia.
Players Ready for Knockouts
Prasidh Krishna (Karnataka):
Recent Form: Prasidh Krishna is likely to go into the tournament on a high, having picked up 6 wickets in the fifth Test at Sydney, where he took 3/42 and 3/65 in the two innings.
Knockout Availability: He will join Karnataka on January 10, a day before their quarterfinal against Baroda.
Devdutt Padikkal (Karnataka):
Recent Form: Devdutt Padikkal played one Test in Perth, scoring 0 and 25 in India’s huge win. Though not selected for the subsequent Tests, he was in excellent form before the series, with four First-Class hundreds.
Knockout Availability: He will also join Karnataka on January 10 for their quarterfinal match.
Washington Sundar (Tamil Nadu):
Recent Form: Sundar, this all-rounder had few chances in the Test series as he could play only three matches and scored 114 runs along with picking 3 wickets in 37 overs.
Knockout Availability: Sunandaru will be available for Tamil Nadu only if they reach the Vijay Hazare Trophy’s semifinals.
KL Rahul’s Absence
KL Rahul has decided to take a break after playing all five Tests against Australia. He will miss out on the Vijay Hazare knockouts but his chances for the second leg of the Ranji Trophy, to begin from January 23, will be re-accessed later. The head coach of India and former cricketer Gautam Gambhir had earlier wished that frontline players such as KL Rahul could see action in the Ranji Trophy.
Nitish Kumar Reddy going to India
The lad who impressed everybody with a hundred at Melbourne in the India-Australia series is Nitish Kumar Reddy. He will leave Australia on Wednesday, but his Ranji match is not there for him anytime soon as Andhra, the team he is representing, didn’t make it to the knockouts. It is likely that Nitish Kumar Reddy would play in the second phase of the Ranji Trophy, for Andhra is to play Puducherry on January 23 and Rajasthan on January 30.
This wave of players returning from international duties and gearing up for domestic tournaments has been an important pointer to the smooth transition of top-tier Indian players back into the domestic scene, which in turn boosts the competition level of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Ranji Trophy.
