Host Tamil Nadu looks for redemption in Vijay Hazare

Host Tamil Nadu will look for redemption after a tough domestic season in 2017-18 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Elite Group ‘C’ leg beginning here on Wednesday.

After the highs of the 2016-17 season, the Tamil Nadu team endured a tough time last year, failing to make much of an impression in the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy (50 overs format) and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20 format). The squad, led by all-rounder Vijay Shankar, will be among the favourites to advance from the ten-team group which also includes Gujarat, Bengal, Jharkhand and Rajasthan among others.

The home side comprises a balanced squad and is a mix of experience and youth. Opener Abhinav Mukund along with B Aparajith and B Indrajith will lead the batting unit that also includes M Kaushik Gandhi and the flamboyant N Jagadeesan, the keeper, apart from the captain himself. Vijay Shankar sounded upbeat on the eve of the tournament and said the team had prepared well in the lead-up period.

He emphasised on the importance of players taking responsibility and giving their best. Each player has to be aware of his role and needs to perform well, Shankar said. “It is important for us to stay calm and keep improving as cricketers,” he said. The TN squad includes two newcomers in paceman S Sharun Kumar and mystery bowler CV Varun, who did well in the recent Tamil Nadu Premier League.

Left-arm paceman T Natarajan and the hard-working K Vignesh will lead the attack which also has M Mohammad apart from Sharun. The spin department will be handled by Rahil Shah and R Sai Kishore. The team, however, will be without the services of Test opener Murali Vijay, who is away playing County cricket in England, ‘keeper Dinesh Karthik, who is with the national team for Asia Cup, all-rounder MS Washington Sundar and Test spinner R Ashwin.

Among the other teams, Gujarat led by the experienced Parthiv Patel, who has been in and out of the national side in recent times, and Bengal, captained by Manoj Tiwari, will hope to perform well. Gujarat’s line-up includes Priyank Panchal, Chirag Gandhi, Manpreet Juneja and the experienced Piyush Chawla. Paceman Deepak Chahar, who was with the Indian team in England for the limited-overs series, will be the man to watch in the Rajasthan team, which also includes fellow pacer Aniket Choudhry, a trainee at the famed MRF Pace Foundation here. The matches would be played at various venues including the MA Chidambaram Stadium.