Tamil Nadu makes surprise selections ahead of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and their selection committee headed by S Sharath has gone ahead and named a rather peculiar side for the upcoming edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2017. These selection inclusions see a lot of players who have either been out of form or who have not played as much get their name into the side, something that baffles those left out, to say the least.

Sanjay Yadav, a left-arm spinner many have not heard of has been added ahead of Sai Kishore, the latter who was able to make a name for himself when it came to his performances in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. “Sanjay Yadav is a useful left-arm spinner who can bat as well. He has been impressive at the camp and did well in the practice game.” Sharath added, “Sai Kishore is young and his opportunities will come.”

Even S Anirudha, a relatively unheard of the name who has played a few matches for the Chennai Super Kings as well is one of those players who has found his name on the side. The aging Rajagopal Satish, who can sometimes be a big-hitter also has had his selection justified by Sharath.

“Anirudha has done well in this format in the past and is looking in good shape now. Sathish adds value to the team, he can hit the ball long and bowls useful seam. We have tried to cover all the bases,” Sharath said.

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While youngster Vijay Shankar has been named as the skipper, the off-color Baba Aparajith has been named as his deputy. Washington Sundar, a part of the India U19 side in 2016 has also seemingly missed the cut.

TN squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali:

Vijay Shankar (capt), Baba Aparajith (vice-capt), Abhinav Mukund, S. Anirudha, M. Kaushik Gandhi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), R. Sathish, N. Jagadeesan (wk), Rahil Shah, M. Ashwin, T. Natarajan, K. Vignesh, Aswin Crist, S. Harish Kumar, R. Sanjay Yadav and B. Indrajith.