Kerala and Karnataka omit Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey from Vijay Hazare Trophy

Sanju Samson has been neglected of Kerala’s squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy starting December 21. The transfer comes on the again of an inner determination to incorporate solely these gamers who participated in a preparatory camp within the lead-up to the match.

Samson had led Kerala within the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024-25, the place they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the knockouts, successful 4 out of their six matches. Samson, who had initially been named within the 30-member possible record, now finds himself out of the 19-member lengthy record.

ESPNcricinfo understands Samson had written to the affiliation stating his unavailability for the camp, however the KCA has determined to stay to its unique determination. With senior batter Sachin Child additionally unavailable because of harm he picked up throughout SMAT, batter Salman Nizar has been named captain for the 50-over competitors.

Samson, recent off two T20I centuries on the tour of South Africa, performed in 5 of Kerala’s six video games at SMAT, scoring 135 runs together with one half-century.

Kerala squad: Salman Nizar (capt), Rohan Kunnummal, Shoun Roger, Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk), Anand Krishnan, Krishna Prasad, Jalaj Saxena, Aditya Sarwate, Sijomon Joseph, Basil Thampi, Basil NP, Nidheesh MD, Eden Apple Tom, Sharafuddeen, Akhil Scaria, Vishweshwar Suresh, Vaishak Chandran, Ajnas M (wk)

Karnataka ‘transfer on’ from Manish Pandey

In the meantime, there’s churn elsewhere with Karnataka seemingly having “moved on” – as per KSCA choice committee chair J Abhiram – from a variety of senior gamers in a bid to reset. Amongst these not thought-about is senior batter Manish Pandey.

The KSCA believes Pandey’s exit at this level is only on type and the potential of a comeback appears “robust.” Pandey managed simply 117 runs in 5 innings as Karnataka did not make the SMAT knockouts; they completed fourth within the eight-team pool, shedding out to Baroda and Saurashtra.

The final of Karnataka’s white-ball trophies – Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2018-19 and 2019-20 – got here underneath Manish Pandey’s captaincy•MPCA

The affiliation has additionally gone to the extent of claiming Pandey, who was vice-captain to Mayank Agarwal for the primary half of Ranji Trophy 2024-25, will not be thought-about for the again finish of the competitors that may resume in January. Pandey managed a solitary half-century in six innings, with Karnataka needing a miracle to qualify for the knockouts.

“We as an affiliation have realised that we have to transfer on from the gamers of outdated and herald new blood,” Abhiram stated. “We can’t reside in previous glory.”

If Pandey has certainly performed his final recreation, it marks the top of an excellent profession wherein he was a part of two Ranji Trophy-winning squads [2013-14 and 2014-15], aside from successful a variety of white-ball championships. Apparently, Karnataka received their most-recent silverware underneath his management – the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy back-to-back in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Pandey has 7973 runs in 118 first-class matches at a median of fifty.78, with 25 centuries. Total, he additionally has over 13,000 runs throughout the white-ball codecs. He performed the most-recent of his 68 white-ball video games for India in 2021. Final month, he was re-signed by reigning IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders forward of the 2025 season.

Pandey’s ouster from Karnataka comes scorching on the heels of a variety of high-profile exits. Okay Gowtham, the allrounder, hasn’t been thought-about throughout codecs because the finish of the 2022-23 season regardless of compelling performances in membership cricket in addition to the state-run Maharaja T20 Trophy.

R Samarth, the opener, has moved to Uttarakhand to play throughout codecs, one thing he wasn’t capable of at Karnataka with the selectors contemplating him as a red-ball specialist. Shreyas Gopal, the legspinner, left for Kerala for a season however has since returned to the Karnataka fold.

It seems now that senior gamers, together with captain Agarwal, might be underneath shut scrutiny from the choice committee ought to they proceed to flounder. “Once we received the double-treble, it was a younger Karnataka crew,” Abhiram stated. “We’re banking on youth as soon as once more to get us there.”

Karnataka squad: Mayank Agarwal (capt), Shreyas Gopal (vice-capt), S Nikin Jose, KV Aneesh, R Smaran, KL Shrijith, Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Raj, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Vasuki Koushik, Vidyadhar Patil, Kishan Bedare, Abhilash Shetty, Manoj Bhandage, Pravin Dubey, Luvnith Sisodia

Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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