Tamil Nadu have announced their squad for the 2022 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, set to begin from October 11. The defending champions have taken a bold call to drop their captain from the championship winning team last year, and handing the reins to Baba Aparajith.
The selectors have removed 2019 World Cup star Vijay Shankar over fitness issues, stating that he has failed to regain full fitness on his return from injury.
India all-rounder Washington Sundar has been named his deputy and will form the leadership group of a talented bunch of cricketers, who once again will be the favourites to win the trophy. Tamil Nadu has been placed in Elite Group ‘E’ with matches to be played in Lucknow. The first match will be against Chhattisgarh on October 11.
It will be followed by games against Odisha, Sikkim, Bengal, Jharkhand and Chandigarh. All-rounder Washington Sundar, who has been hit by a multitude of injuries since 2021, will be back in the cricket field for the first time since cutting his time short at the English County circuit. The all-rounder had to pull away from the competition and the subsequent tours of India after hurting his shoulder while playing for Lanchashire.
The team announced by the state senior selection committee headed by former Tamil Nadu captain S Vasudevan includes left-arm pacer T Natarajan, who is returning from injury. However, the two-time defending champion will be without the services of all-rounder Vijay Shankar, M Mohammed and J Kousik.
Tamil Nadu had won the tournament in the previous season thanks to the heroics by the big-hitting Shahrukh Khan in the final against Karnataka. The selection panel chief Vasudevan said it was a balanced team and a strong one.
“…Hopefully, we will make it a hat-trick,” he added. About Vijay Shankar, he said the all-rounder had not regained fitness yet. Shankar had sustained an injury during the IPL where he featured for eventual winners Gujarat Titans.
Tamil Nadu Squad
B Aparajith (captain), MS Washington Sundar (vice-captain), B Sai Sudharsan, T Natarajan, M Shahrukh Khan, R Sai Kishore, R Sanjay Yadav, Sandeep Warrier, M Siddharth, Varun Chakravarthy, J Suresh Kumar, C Hari Nishaanth , R Silambarasan, M Ashwin, G Ajitesh.
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