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Mayank Agarwal
Experienced opener Mayank Agarwal was on Wednesday named as Karnataka captain for the first two matches of the upcoming Ranji Trophy season. The promising young batsman Nikin Jose has been appointed as Agarwal's deputy. However, KL Rahul has not been named in the 16-man squad considering India's upcoming assignments at home against Afghanistan (three T20Is) and England (five Tests) across January and February. Agarwal had a big 2022-23 domestic season emerging as the top run-getter in the circuit with 990 runs from nine matches at average of 82.50 that contained three hundreds and six fifties. Karnataka will open their Ranji campaign against Punjab at Hubli from January 5-8 and in their second match, the former champions will face Gujarat in Ahmedabad from January 12-15. Former batsman PV Shashikanth has been retained as the coach of the side. Karnataka squad: Mayank Agarwal (c), Ravikumar Samarth, Devdutt Padikkal, Nikin Jose (vc), Manish Pandey, Shubhang Hegde, Sharath Srinivas
From a team perspective it made sense when Rohit Sharma emphasised the need for India to have a left-hander in their top-order, while welcoming Yashasvi Jaiswal to the opener's slot for the Test series against West Indies. But the statement might just have come as a jolt to a few other aspiring openers. Mayank Agarwal is one of them. Now, the Karnataka right-hander will have to play the waiting game to make his return. Mayank last played for India against Sri Lanka in the Day-Night Test in March 2022 at Bengaluru. However, positivity has not ebbed out of the 32-year-old. "See, I am somebody who does not think too much about it. I have been dealt a hand and I don't have much control on what hand I have been dealt with. But I really want to put in everything from my side. "On every given opportunity, I want to go out there, score runs and win games. Whatever has to come its way, it will come," said Mayank. When a player is aiming to make a comeback to the national side, he will hav