The latest edition of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is going to see the light of the day from 10th of January 2021 and will be staged across six different venues in India in the bio-bubble. In the same light, teams have been announcing their skippers and squads, and defending champions Karnataka have named Karun Nair as their captain. Nair will lead the 20-member squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for the 2021 season.

Pavan Deshpande led the Vultures CC to bag the title in KSCA T20 League Tournament 2020 and has been appointed as Nair’s deputy. Big names like KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal will be missing out on the tournament owing to their national duty. Both of them are currently in Australia, while Manish Pandey has been ruled out of the tournament after sustaining a tennis elbow injury.

Two youngsters earn a maiden call-up in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021

In absence of these big names, IPL stars like Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Krishnappa Gowthan, and Shreyas Gopal have been roped in the 20-man squad, which certainly made Karnataka favourites in the tournament. Some youngsters like KL Shrijit and Shubhang Hegde have earned a maiden call-up to the senior state side. Shrijith was the top scorer in the recently concluded T20 league as he scored 203 runs in five matches, striking at 133.55. He became an instrumental part of Vulture CC’s campaign.

On the other hand, left-arm spinner Shubhang Hegde who was part of the India U-19 World Cup squad 2020, has also been included in the Karnataka team. The team has been placed in group A alongside UP, Punjab, J&K, Tripura, and Railways. They will play their group stage events at Alur grounds. Keeping in light the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire tournament would be played inside bio-bubble.

Karnataka squad for SMAT 2021-

Karun Nair (C), Pavan Deshpande (VC), Devdutt Padikkal, Roham Kadam, KV Siddharth, KL Shrijith, BR Sharath, Anirudha Joshi, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jagadeesha Suchith, Pravin Dubey, Abhimanyu Mithun, Prasidh Krishna, Prateek Jain, V Koushik, Ronit More, Darshan MB, Manoj Bhandage, Shubhang Hegde.