Vijay Hazare Trophy: Depleted Tamil Nadu face Rajasthan in opener

CHENNAI: A depleted Tamil Nadu side will kick off their Vijay Hazare campaign against Rajasthan at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Tuesday. Injuries have ruled out all-rounders - Vijay Shankar and Washington Sundar - from the first couple of games. Shankar is still recovering from a thumb injury he sustained during the India 'A' series against South Africa 'A', while Washington suffered a niggle during India's third T20 against South Africa in Bengaluru on Sunday.It is also learnt that allrounder J Kousik is a doubtful starter for the opening game as he is unwell.
To top that, the Dinesh Karthik-led side will miss the services of Murali Vijay as he joins the team only on October 1 after concluding his county commitments with Somerset. "We are missing a lot of players in our line-up either due to injuries or because of other commitments. However, the situation presents an opportunity for others in our squad to put their hands up and deliver a good show," Karthik said on the eve of the match. TN is set to open with Abhinav Mukund and N Jagadeesan with Karthik, B Aparajith slated to come in at No. 3 and 4 respectively. As far as the bowling is concerned, TN will largely depend on medium-pacers in M Mohammed, K Vignesh and left-armer T Natarajan to do the job. Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore and leggie M Ashwin provide the slow-ball bowling options.
On the other hand, the hosts' biggest strength lies in its potent bowling attack. Medium-pacer Deepak Chahar will lead the attack and have the company of left-armers Khaleel Ahmed and Aniket Choudhary. They will also have the services of leg-spinner Rahul Chahar. With regards to their batting, skipper Mahipal Lomror, Manender Singh and Ashok Menaria will be expected to do the bulk of the scoring. "Rajasthan is a good side and possesses a strong bowling unit but we have our plans in place against them," said Karthik. TN will take a lot of heart from the fact that Rajasthan have never beaten them in this competition. With just two teams qualifying for the knockout stages from this group, both TN and Rajasthan will have little time to get into the groove.