(Cricket News) After missing the previous round of the 2023–24 Ranji Trophy due to a medical emergency, Mayank Agarwal, the captain of Karnataka, has been cleared to resume his cricket career.

Following his side’s match against Tripura, Agarwal consumed a liquid that he thought was water while on a flight from Agartala. He then experienced a period of vomiting and was taken off the aircraft and admitted to a private hospital in Agartala.

After being released the next day, Agarwal traveled back to Bengaluru, where he was examined and found to be in good health. He was then told to take it easy for two days before he could resume his activities. On Monday, Agarwal was named captain again for the sixth-round southern derby against Tamil Nadu at Chepauk, which is scheduled to start later this week.

With Agarwal’s return and that of Devdutt Padikkal, who was forced to miss the first two rounds of the competition due to his obligations with India A, the Railways have given an experienced lineup a serious scare.

After being bowled out for 174 in the first innings and failing to reach their target of 226 with one wicket remaining, thanks to an undefeated 67 from Manish Pandey, Karnataka is now second in Group B with three wins from five matches, with only quotient and bonus points separating them from leaders Tamil Nadu.

Young batsman Nikin Jose led Karnataka with two hits in Agarwal’s absence. Jose had made 107 in his opening game of the season against Goa, but he has since struggled with just eight runs in four innings. Agarwal has amassed 310 runs in seven innings at an average of 44.28, with one hundred and two half-centuries.

Karnataka squad: Mayank Agarwal (capt), Devdutt Padikkal, R Samarth, Nikin Jose, Manish Pandey, Sharath Srinivas (wk), Aneesh KV, Vyshak Vijayakumar, V Koushik, K Shashikumar, Sujay Sateri (wk), M Venkatesh, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kishan Bedare, Rohit Kumar, Hardik Raj.

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