KL Rahul Included In Mayank Agarwal-Led Karnataka's Vijay Hazare Trophy Squad

KL Rahul, who led India in the recently concluded three-match ODI series against South Africa, will play for Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The 33-year-old right-handed batter, who is also India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in the 50-over format of the game, was included in Karnataka’s Vijay Hazare Trophy squad for the 2025-26 season starting December 24 on Wednesday (December 17).

In addition to Rahul, Prasidh Krishna, who also played in all three ODIs against the South African team, is also included in the squad.

Out-of-favour India batter Mayank Agarwal, who failed to find a buyer in the IPL 2026 mini auction on Tuesday (December 16), will captain Karnataka, and Karun Nair has been named as his deputy. Left-handed batter Devdutt Padikkal

is also included in Karnataka’s squad.

Karnataka’s decision to include Rahul, Padikkal and Krishna in the squad is in line with the BCCI’s recent policy of making Indian cricketers play in the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The governing body took the decision considering the three-week gap between the last T20I against South Africa in Ahmedabad (December 19) and the first ODI against New Zealand (January 11, 2026).

Karnataka are placed in Group A alongside Jharkhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Tripura, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and will play their league games in Ahmedabad.

Karnataka squad: Mayank Agarwal (C), Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair (VC), R Smaran, KL Shrijith, Abhinav Manohar, Shreyas Gopal, Vyshak Vijayakumar, L Manvanth Kumar, Shreesha S Achar, Abhilash Shetty, BR Sharath, Harshit Dharmani, Dhruv Prabhakar, KL Rahul, Prasidh Krishna.

Virat to play for Delhi

Batting superstar Virat Kohli is all set to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Delhi. DDCA President Rohan Jaitley confirmed Virat’s availability for the premier domestic one-day tournament earlier this month. Kohli, who is the second-highest run-getter in ODIs for India, last played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2010. He, however, played a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi in January 2025 against Railways at Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Apart from Kohli, Rohit Sharma is also expected to turn up for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Rohit, who tops the ICC ODI batter’s rankings, also played a Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai at BKC against Jammu and Kashmir in January 2025.