Team India’s Test specialists Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay have been included in the Tamil Nadu squad for the upcoming season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group C League which will be played here from February 5 to 14.
Ashwin and Vijay were part of the Indian cricket team which lost the three-match Test series to South Africa by 1-2 in the rainbow nation, which concluded recently. While Vijay was never a regular in the India limited-over set up, Ashwin has lost his place from the ODIs and T20Is in the team and so has his partner Ravindra Jadeja.
Also read: Ashwin tries fast bowlingThe 16-member Tamil Nadu squad will be led by all-rounder Vijay Shankar, but they will miss the services of the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, who is part of the Indian ODI and T20I teams in South Africa.
Baba Aparajith has been chosen as the deputy skipper as said in the press release by TNCA. Abhinav Mukund, who led the state side in the Ranji Trophy will not be able to feature in the Vijay Hazare Trophy due to injury.
The young fast bowler Aswin Crist, who missed the Ranji Trophy season because of the injury, will also be making a comeback. The Tamil Nadu selection committee headed by S Sharath said the presence of Ashwin and Vijay will be a boost to the team. He said, “The squad is a mix of experience and youth. The presence of Ashwin and Vijay will be a boost for the team. A few good players missed out.”
Tamil Nadu’s Squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy: Vijay Shankar (captain), B Aparajith (vice captain), R Ashwin, M Vijay, M Kaushik Gandhi, M S Washington Sundar, Ganga Sridhar Raju, B Anirudh Sita Ram, N Jagadeesan (wk), K Vignesh, V Yomahesh, Aswin Crist, J Kousik, R Sai Kishore, Raahil Shah, M Abhinav.
