Dinesh Karthik To Lead, Vijay Shankar Appointed Vice-Captain Of Star-Studded Tamil Nadu In Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019/20

Dinesh Karthik will be leading Tamil Nadu in the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy, TNCA announced on Saturday. Karthik was already announced as the captain of the side but the team has been announced today. Vijay Shankar, under whom Tamil Nadu won the trophy in 2016/17, has been named deputy to Karthik.

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Abhinav Mukund, Washington Sundar and Murali Vijay are other international stars in the side. Sundar, who is a part of the T20I squad, will be joining the soon after the completion of the series. Vijay is not a part of the Indian team and will be available for the full tournament.

R Ashwin, who is a part of the Test side against South Africa, isn’t a part of the squad. During the tournament, the focus will be on Karthik and Shankar.

Starting from Karthk, he was dropped from the Indian team after World Cup 2019 but can still make a comeback on the basis of domestic performances.

Team India is yet to find a suitable finisher in limited-overs cricket. Karthik averages over 100 in chases in ODIs since his comeback in 2017 and is a strong contender to earn his place back in the squad.

In T20Is as well, Karthik can be instrumental to do finisher’s job especially when MS Dhoni is not certain to play the shortest format of the game. Good performances in the tournament can see Karthik make his national comeback.

For Shankar, the tournament will be more of a fitness test. He was a part of World Cup squad but was rued out midway due to an injury. He made his comeback for South Africa A one-day series but was ruled out again.

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He isn’t a part of the South Africa series but can make a comeback for West Indies series if he proves his fitness in the tournament. Shankar will be available for the complete Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Baba Aparajith and Murugan Ashwin will have a crucial role to play in Tamil Nadu’s campaign. Tamil Nadu play Rajasthan in their opening match on September 24 in Jaipur. Divakar Vasu will coach the 2016//17 Vijay Hazare Trophy champions.

Team: Dinesh Karthik (captain), Vijay Shankar (vice-captain), Abhinav Mukund, M Vijay, B Aparajith, M Ashwin, M S Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, N Jagadeesan, T Natarajan, K Vignesh, M Mohammed, M Siddharth, Abhishek Tanwar, C Hari Nishaanth, J Kousik.