Bengaluru: Karun Nair will lead the Karnataka team in its must-win clash against Railways in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Alur grounds here on Friday.

Karun takes charge in the absence of regular captain R. Vinay Kumar, who is not fit. Also missing from the 15-member squad is Abhimanyu Mithun, who has not featured in Karnataka’s last two games. Fast bowler Ronit More and State u-19 batsman Devdutt Padikkal have been called up.

“Vinay is not fit. So he is not in the team. Mithun has been rested,” said Raghuram Bhat, chairman of selectors.

Baroda (16 points) has already advanced to the quarterfinals from Group ‘A’, with the winner of the tie between Karnataka (14) and Railways (12) to claim the other spot.

The team:

Karun Nair (Capt.), Mayank Agarwal, R. Samarth, Pavan Deshpande, B.R. Sharath, K. Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Prasidh Krishna, T. Pradeep, Anirudha Joshi, J. Suchith, Ritesh Bhatkal, Pravin Dubey, Ronit More, and Devdutt Padikkal.