Karnataka's Prasidh Krishna, Devdutt Padikkal and Tamil Nadu all-rounder Washington Sundar will be available for the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockout matches, starting from Thursday in Vadodara, after playing in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia. However, KL Rahul, who played all five Test matches against the Aussies, has requested a break and will skip the Hazare knockouts. Rahul's availability for the second phase of the Ranji Trophy, which starts on January 23, will be decided at a later date. Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir had recently expressed his wish that Indian frontline players would make themselves available for the remainder of the premier domestic red-ball tournament.
However, Washington could join Tamil Nadu only if the team progresses to the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He played three matches and made 114 runs with a fifty, but bowled only 37 overs in those Tests as pacers were preferred due to the conditions. The off-spinner took just three wickets.
Prasidh will be high on confidence after making a good impression in the fifth Test in Sydney, where the pacer took six Australian wickets — 3/42 in the first innings and 3/65 in the second essay.
Devdutt played just one Test match in Perth, mainly because skipper Rohit Sharma stayed in India to welcome his second baby.
The left-hander made a nil and 25 in India's 295-run win in Perth but was not selected for any of the other four Test matches.
The 24-year-old was in great form before heading to Australia for the India A tour, smashing four first-class hundreds at the Duleep Trophy and in the first leg of the Ranji Trophy.
Both Prasidh and Devdutt will join the Karnataka squad on January 10, a day before their quarter-final against Baroda in Vadodara.
Nitish to play Ranji
Nitish Kumar Reddy will also fly out of Australia on Wednesday, but he will not be seen in action immediately as Andhra has not yet progressed to the knockout stages.
However, Nitish, who impressed everyone with his gutsy batting Down Under, including a hundred in Melbourne, is likely to play in the second phase of the Ranji Trophy.
He played just one match this season before traveling to Australia.
Andhra has two matches left this season against Puducherry from January 23 and against Rajasthan from January 30.
They currently sit seventh in Elite Group B with four points after three defeats and two draws from five matches.
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