Out-of-favour India all-rounder Vijay Shankar will be leading Tamil Nadu in the upcoming Ranji Trophy season, TNCA announced on Monday. He will be assisted by man-in-form, Baba Aparajith. Shankar has taken over the captaincy from Baba Indrajith, who is out due to a shoulder injury. Indrajith hasn’t played a match this season due to shoulder issue.
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Under Shankar, Tamil Nadu had won Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2016/17. He has been part of India’s Test squad as well but is yet to make his debut in the longest format. Vijay was apart of the Indian team for World Cup as well but an injury has seen him losing his place.
Tamil Nadu’s squad include India internationals Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik and R Ashwin. All the players will be available for the majority of the season. As per a report in Sportstar, team’s coach D Vasu wanted Ashwin as skipper but since he will leave for New Zealand for the Test series in February, Ashwin will miss the knockouts if Tamil Nadu make it to the next round.
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The two-time Ranji Trophy champions have done well in the season so far. Under Dinesh Karthik, they made it to the final of Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, losing to Karnataka in both the finals.
Tamil Nadu host Manish Pandey and co in their opening game in Dindigul from December 9.
Squad: Vijay Shankar (Captain), B Aparajith (vice-captain), M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, K Dinesh Karthik, N Jagadeesan, R Ashwin, R Sai Kishore, T Natarajan, K Vignesh, Abhishek Tanwar, M Ashwin, M Siddharth, Shahrukh Khan, K Mukunth
Hanuma Vihari to lead Andhra Pradesh –
Andhra Pradesh have named India Test player Hanuma Vhari as captain for the Ranji Trophy. KS Bharat, who was called for the pink-ball Test as a backup to Wriddhiman Saha, has been named Vihari’s deputy and will lead the team in the second round if Andhra Pradesh qualify.
Vihari, who scored a century in the West Indies, got to play just one Test against South Africa. He is expected to be in the playing XI in New Zealand as India do not play two spinners overseas.
Andhra Pradesh host defending champions Vidarbha in their first match from December 9.