Vinay Kumar to lead Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy

Bengaluru, October 7: R Vinay Kumar will lead Karnataka in their Ranji Trophy campaign in the season 2017-18.

The 33-year-old Davanagere pace man, an experienced figure with over 400 first-class wickets, has overseen Karnataka's twin triumph in the Ranji Trophy besides victories in the shorter formats as well.

Karnataka take on Assam in their first-round match at Mysuru from October 14.

However, star batsmen KL Rahul and Karun Nair will not be part of the squad for this match owing to their national commitments.

Rahul is with Indian team for the T20Is against Australia while Karun is with India A for the one-day matches against the visiting New Zealand.

Former skipper PV Shashikanth is the coach of the team.

The squad: R Vinay Kumar (captain), R Samarth, Abhishek Reddy, Mayank Agarwal, Mir Kaunian Abbas, Pavan Deshpande, CM Gautam (wicketkeeper), Stuart Binny, K Gowtham, A Mithun, S Arvind, Shreyas Gopal, J Suchith, D Nischal, Sharath Srinivas (wicketkeeper), Ronit More.