Tamil Nadu announces a probable 26-member squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally decided to host the delayed Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2021 from January 10 to 31. The whole tournament will be played in a bio-secure bubble across six different states. All the players participating in the domestic tournament are expected to assemble at their respective hubs by January 2, 2021.

Ahead of the marquee league, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Academy (TNCA) announced a probable squad comprising 26 members. One of the notable names in the squad is Dinesh Karthik, who was recently involved with the franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the just-concluded 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The wicketkeeper-batsman has been essaying the role of the captain for Tamil Nadu since past years and is expected to don the leader hat this time too along with being the main man behind the stumps. The list also saw the return of wicketkeeper-batsman KB Arun Karthick to the Tamil Nadu contingent after a long gap of 7 years.

Abhinav Mukund not included in Tamil Nadu squad

One new addition to the line-up is medium-pacer Sandeep Warrier, who had represented Kerala in the 2019 edition, while the opening batsman Abhinav Mukund didn’t find a place in the squad. Medium-pacer Aswin Crist, who last represented TN in February 2018 and had battled stress fracture in the last few years, regained his full fitness and made a comeback in the team.

“We have chosen the players based on last year’s performance. It is a balanced line-up comprising youth and experience,” said S Vasudevan, the chairman of selectors as quoted by Times of India. “We are awaiting BCCI’s message on the number of players who can be picked in the final squad. We will be naming the squad on December 21,” said a TNCA official.

List of probables: Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, B Aparajith, B Indrajith, Vijay Shankar, M Shahrukh Khan, C Hari Nishaanth, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KB Arun Karthik, Akshay V Srinivasan, N Jagadeesan, M Abhinav, Aswin Crist, M Mohammed, G Periyasamy, Sandeep Warrier, S Harish Kumar, K Vignesh, R Silambarasan, J Kousik, R Sonu Yadav, M Ashwin, R Sai Kishore, M Siddharth, L Sathiyannaarayanan, Yazh Arun Mozhi.