Karun Nair returns to Karnataka, Ravi Kumar Samarth replaces him in Vidarbha squad for Ranji Trophy 2025-26

It was reported earlier that Karun Nair would play for Karnataka in the upcoming Ranji season. Now, it has been confirmed who will replace him in the Vidarbha cricket team.

Karun Nair represented Vidarbha for the last two domestic seasons, but he has now decided to return to his home team Karnataka for the 2025-26 season. To fill the void, Vidarbha have included Ravi Kumar Samarth as his replacement. Considering Nair’s strong performances for Vidarbha, he won’t be easy to replace, but this is a big opportunity for Samarth to prove himself in his new team.

Samarth belongs to Karnataka, represented the state from 2013 to 2024 before moving to Uttarakhand for the 2024-25 season. He now becomes the third cricketer from Karnataka to turn out for Vidarbha, after Karun Nair and Ganesh Satish.

Karun Nair had an excellent performance in the last Ranji season, and he played a big role in making Vidarbha the champion. Karun scored 863 runs in 9 matches of the last Ranji season. On the basis of this performance, he made a comeback in the Indian cricket team after almost 8 years. He was selected for the England tour.

32-year-old Ravikumar Samarth is an opening batsman. He has scored 6,157 runs in 166 innings of 95 first-class matches, scoring 15 centuries and 35 half-centuries. His highest score was 235 runs.