CHENNAI:
Tamil Nadu, which began the season by retaining the
Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 title
, face defending champions Mumbai in their opening game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
The schedule of the tournament is a demanding one with teams playing 5 one-dayers in 7 days during the league phase. A day after playing Mumbai, the Vijay Shankar-led side will take on Karnataka.
Tamil Nadu, which failed to make the knockout stages of the competition, will be hoping for an improved performance. They will be boosted with the return of Dinesh Karthik and
Washington Sundar.
The side wears a settled look with N Jagadeesan and C Hari Nishaanth expected to open the proceedings. The middle-order will be manned by Shankar, young gun Sai Sudharsan, Karthik and Washington while M Shahrukh Khan dons the finisher’s role. The team has options aplenty in their bowling department --- be it pacers or spinners.
On the other hand, Mumbai — captained by Shams Mulani — are missing a few key players like Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer. While Prithvi is part of the India A tour of South Africa, Shreyas featured in the India-New Zealand Test series which concluded in Mumbai on Monday.
A depleted Mumbai side notwithstanding, Tamil Nadu will not want to take them lightly. “Mumbai have always been a top-quality side even if a few of their players aren’t part of the team. We will have to be on top of our game against a team like Mumbai,” coach M
Venkataramana
said on the eve of the contest.
Mumbai will be banking on Yashasvi Jaiswal, Armaan Jaffer and Siddhesh Lad to do the bulk of scoring. Their bowling will be spearheaded by medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarni along with Tushar Deshpande.
Despite a challenging schedule in the tournament, Venkataramana is hoping that the team will be able to deliver a strong performance. “The schedule is the same for all teams. We have a strong side and players are experienced enough to come up with the goods,” he said.