Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, and Abhimanyu Easwaran will feature in the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts starting January 9 in Vadodara. KL Rahul has opted for a break, while Washington Sundar could be available from the semi-finals if Tamil Nadu qualifies.
Padikkal and Prasidh will return from Australia on January 10, joining Karnataka ahead of their quarter-final against Baroda. Abhimanyu, representing Bengal, has flown back a day earlier to prepare for their pre-quarter-final clash with Haryana. Cricket Association of Bengal arranged his early return after securing special permission. Abhimanyu will train with the Bengal squad on January 8.
Akash Deep, another Bengal player from the India squad, is ruled out due to a back injury and will head to the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru for rehabilitation.
Padikkal and Prasidh had been part of India’s Test squad in Australia. Padikkal was called up after Rohit Sharma’s delayed arrival and played in the Perth Test, where India won by 295 runs. Prasidh made a strong comeback in the Sydney Test, picking up six wickets, including dismissing Steven Smith twice.
For Abhimanyu, the Haryana match will be his first official game in two months. He was part of India’s squad in Australia but didn’t get a chance to play in any of the five Tests. His underwhelming India A performances in Australia affected his chances of debuting, but he had been in stellar form earlier, scoring four centuries in the Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy.
After India’s 3-1 series defeat in Australia, head coach Gautam Gambhir emphasized the importance of players participating in domestic cricket. “Domestic cricket needs to be prioritized,” Gambhir said. “If players want to play red-ball cricket, they must commit to playing domestic tournaments.”
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