India all-rounder Vijay Shankar back in action for Tamil Nadu
What's the story
Indian pace-bowling all-rounder Vijay Shankar is back from his recent spate of injury and is all set to represent Tamil Nadu in the upcoming season of the Vijay Hazare trophy. He has also been named as the skipper of the side that contains a few other key performers like Baba Aparajith and Abhinav Mukund.
In case you didn't know...
Vijay was the captain of the TN side that fielded the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Baba Aparajith and Washington Sundar, that lifted the same trophy in the 2016-17 season. Following some amazing performances with both bat and ball, he was roped in by the Gujarat Lions for the 2017 IPL as well.
Vijay got his debut for India in the 2018 Nihadas Trophy, and he will be remembered for that last-over tussle in the event finals, involving him and Dinesh Karthik against Rubel Hossain of Bangladesh. He went on to feature in the 2018 IPL with the Delhi Daredevils, delivering some key performances with the bat. Coming in at lower-middle order, he scored 212 in 13 games at a strike rate of over 150.
His latest international assignment was with the India-A side in England in June and July, which was when he suffered from a left hamstring tendon injury. As of latest, he was on the path of recovery and even featured in two matches of the ongoing VAP Trophy.
The details
The entire Tamil Nadu squad is as follows:
Vijay Shankar (c), Abhinav Mukund, Indrajith, Aparajith, Kaushik Gandhi, B Anirudh (wk), Jagadeesan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahil Shah, Sai Kishore, Varun CV, Mohammed, K Vignesh, T Natarajan, and Sharun Kumar.
Some of the noted absentees are Dinesh Karthik, who will be with India during the Asia Cup, Murali Vijay, who will be featuring for Essex in the County Championships, and Washington Sundar, who is still recovering from a left hamstring injury.
It is to be noted that several youngsters have found a place in the squad, following some clinical performances in the recently concluded TNPL and the ongoing VAP trophy. After a title win in 2016-17, the side had a disastrous run in the 2017-18 season and will be looking forward to recuperating well this time on.
“We are looking forward to the new season. We are confident,” Vijay Shankar had spoken, in a recent interview with The Hindu.
What's next?
The begins on September 19 and Tamil Nadu is in Group C where its opponents would be tough sides such as Bengal, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Haryana. All the matches will be played in Chennai.