BCCI asks Ashwin, Ishant to rest

Mindful of player workloads, the Indian team management has asked R Ashwin and Ishant Sharma to sit out of the third round of Ranji Trophy matches starting on November 20.

The goal is to have them fresh and ready for the team's only four-day fixture in Australia ahead of the Test series. The Test specialists are due to fly out on November 24, with the match slated to begin four days later. The first Test is slated for December 6 in Adelaide.

Among the bowlers, only Mohammed Shami has been permitted to play, that too with a rider that he should bowl no more than 15 overs, with the possibility of a "few extra overs" if needed.

Ishant has recovered from an ankle injury and featured for Delhi in their opening fixture against Himachal. In all, he bowled 28.3 overs across both innings for match haul of 4 for 82.

Meanwhile, Ashwin, no more a limited-overs regular, hasn't had much cricket since the West Indies Tests finished on October 14. He played two List A Deodhar Trophy matches and Tamil Nadu's Ranji opener against Madhya Pradesh, where he took 4 for 85 in 38.4 overs in the first week of November.

Karnataka depleted further without Karun Nair

Part of the state's batting core not too long ago, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, R Samarth, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair won't turn out for Karnataka for their second fixture against Mumbai in Belagavi.

Nair, the designated vice-captain, is set to lead India A in New Zealand for the second and third four-day fixtures, of which Samarth and Agarwal are a part. Rahul and Pandey, meanwhile, are in Australia with India's T20I squad. While Rahul is set to miss out on the entire season, Pandey will be available for the second half, when he is free of national commitments.

Mumbai too will be without Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer. Shaw is currently with India A in New Zealand, while Iyer is part of the T20I squad in Australia.

Cricket returns to Jammu and Kashmir

Cricket will return to Jammu and Kashmir after almost three years, when the state's team hosts Tripura at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar. So far, both teams have played two matches, losing one and drawing the other. Tripura however, managed to grab the first-innings lead in their draw, while J&K didn't, leaving Tripura with three points to J&K's one.

The last time J&K played a match at home was in December 2015. They were beaten by Saurashtra, by an innings and 63 runs, on that occasion.