Ravichandran Ashwin To Lead Tamil Nadu, Murali Vijay Left Out

Ravichandran Ashwin’s career in limited-overs cricket is showing no signs of improving. The veteran off-spinner, who was part of India’s victorious campaign in the 2011 World Cup as well as the 2013 Champions Trophy, last played for India in coloured clothing in July 2017. Wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have since then become frontline spinners for India in limited overs format.

Ashwin had played his last T20I and the ODI during the tour of Caribbeans in 2017. Since then, he has been waiting to earn a recall but in vain. Well, Ashwin will have a chance to impress the selectors ahead of the ICC World Cup 2019 when he leads Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament in Surat from February 21 to March 2. Ashwin will also be eyeing to change his state team’s fortunes after their poor outings in the Vijay Hazare and Ranji Trophy.

The selectors, meanwhile, have made it clear they will not hesitate in taking bold calls as they left behind the likes of Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund and Baba Aparajith to pick youngsters. Star batsman Dinesh Karthik is not available due to national commitments while Varun Chakaravarthy is injured.

“The team has been picked keeping the format in mind. This format is more about youth and thus Vijay and Abhinav don’t find a place. Aparajith too has been dropped. The team has been picked unanimously,” said S Sharath, the chairman of selectors.

Sharath is also confident of seeing Ashwin lead Tamil Nadu to success, saying:

“He was very positive with his inputs. He is a class player, with good knowledge of the game and has leadership skills.”

The likes of R Vivek, NS Chaturved, Hari Nishaanth have reaped the rewards for doing well in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. M Ashwin has returned to the team too.

Tamil Nadu squad:

R Ashwin (c), Washington Sundar (vc), N Jagadeesan (wk), Hari Nishaanth, Shahrukh Khan, Baba Indrajith, R Vivek, T Natarajan, M Mohammed, J Kousik, R Sai Kishore, M Ashwin, NS Chaturved, Vijay Shankar, Athisayaraj Davidson, Abhishek Tanwar.