Ranji Trophy: KL Rahul Back in Karnataka Squad for Bengal Semi-final

After a short break the in-form wicketkeeper batsman KL Rahul is back in the 15-man Karnataka squad for the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Bengal at the Eden Gardens, beginning February 29.

Karnataka’s squad had been bolstered for the quarter-final against Jammu and Kashmir with Manish Pandey joining the squad after he and Rahul returned from the New Zealand tour.

Rahul, who has been in fine form in recent months for the Indian team in white-ball cricket, has become a key part of the T20 set up ahead of the World Cup later this year in October.

“KL’s comeback is a healthy headache for us,” said coach Yere Goud was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

“It’s a tough call for us. We will see how the wicket is and then decide on the combination.”

In New Zealand in the three-match ODI series, Rahul finished with scores of 88, 4 and 112. While in the T20I series the wicketkeeper batsman scored 45, 39, 27, 57* and 56.

Before the New Zealand tour, Rahul however really cranked it up against Australia in a three-match ODI series in India where he scored 11*, 80 and 19. India had lost the first game the first game of the series but bounced back to win the series 2-1.

Earlier in the week, Karnataka beat Jammu and Kashmir by 167 runs in their quarterfinal clash at the in Jammu with K Gowtham being the pick of the bowlers in the second innings, as he returned with figures of seven for 54.

However, Bengal progressed on a first-innings lead against Odisha, bowling them out for 250 after they had made 332. Odisha were then set an unrealistic 456 to win but a combination of time running out and bad light meant they batted only 10 overs in their second innings.