KL Rahul is set to make his Ranji Trophy comeback after a five-year hiatus. He will be a part of the Karnataka side for their important last league game against table toppers Haryana in the ongoing 2024-25 season. This match begins on Thursday, January 30, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Rahul was in line to play Karnataka's most recent clash against Punjab last week at the same venue. However, he missed that game due to a niggle. The 32-year-old is expected to reach Bengaluru early on Tuesday and subsequently join his state-mates for practice.
“Rahul will join the team for a couple of practice sessions and has informed us about the same,” J Abhiram, chairman of the senior selection committee, was quoted as saying by TOI.
While it is confirmed that Rahul will be making his return to the Ranji Trophy fold later this week, there is still no clarity regarding the position where he will bat in the mouth-watering face-off. The stylish right-handed batter finished with 276 runs from 10 innings at an average of 30.67 in the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar series in Australia. He opened the batting in four Tests and batted at No. 3 in another.
Rahul generally bats in the middle-order nowadays in ODI cricket. He batted at No. 5 in the three-match series last year against Sri Lanka. He has a fine record batting at that position.
According to sources, it is believed that Karnataka will get advice from the Indian think-tank regarding Rahul's batting position against Haryana, especially with an important tournament like the Champions Trophy being on the horizon. The Karnataka team management has no problems working around it.
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Meanwhile, Vidhwath Kaverappa, who picked up a shin injury during a Duleep Trophy encounter in September 2024, is all set to make his maiden Ranji Trophy appearance in this season. He underwent rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy before receiving the green signal recently. Yashovardhan Parantap, who had a memorable outing against Punjab, might make way for Kaverappa.
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