Prasidh, Smaran, Samit Dravid to appear in Thimmappiah Memorial tournament

Bengaluru, Sep 2 (PTI) A clutch of top players from Karnataka such as India pacer Prasidh Krishna, promising batter R Smaran and upcoming Samit Dravid, son of legendary Rahul Dravid, will be seen in action in the state season-opening Dr (Capt) K Thimmappiah Memorial tournament, beginning here on Thursday.

Prasidh is returning to action after an eventful tour to England where he took 14 wickets from the three Tests he played.

With a home Test series against the West Indies fast approaching, this four-day format tournament will be a good opportunity for the 29-year-old to keep his body tuned to the demands of the red ball game.

Smaran, who was in the standbys, could not get into the South Zone squad for the ongoing Duleep Trophy, but the top-order batter can look forward to starting the new season with a bang against some top domestic sides such as Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and Baroda.

Smaran was the highest run-getter for Karnataka in last season's Ranji Trophy, making 516 runs from seven matches at an average of 64.50 with two hundreds.

Incidentally, Mumbai will have India batter Ajinkya Rahane in their ranks for this tournament to be held across Bengaluru and Mysuru.

Smaran is leading the KSCA XI and apart from Prasidh he will have IPL regulars Shreyas Gopal, Vidwath Kaverappa, and KL Shrijth for company.

Samit is a part of the KSCA Secretary's XI, which will be captained by Karnataka top-order batter Nikin Jose.

Apart from those two teams, KSCA will also field President's XI and Colts XI. PTI UNG AH AH