R. Vinay Kumar will lead defending champion Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy which commences on September 19.

Batsmen K.L. Rahul and Manish Pandey will miss the tournament as the duo will be away on National duty at the Asia Cup. Pacer T. Pradeep, who featured in Karnataka’s victorious campaign last season, has been replaced by another fast bowler — M.G. Naveen.

Left-arm seamer S. Arvind, who played two matches for Karnataka in the previous edition before retiring, takes charge as the bowling coach.

The squad: R. Vinay Kumar (Capt.), Mayank Agarwal, R. Samarth, Karun Nair, Pavan Deshpande, Stuart Binny, C.M. Gautam, K. Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, A. Mithun, Prasidh Krishna, J. Suchith, Abhishek Reddy, M.G. Naveen, and B.R. Sharath.

Coach: Yere Goud; Bowling coach: S. Arvind.