CHENNAI: Chairman of the state selection committee S Sharath, D Girish, P Subbiah and chief coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar will meet on Tuesday to pick the team for the season’s first Ranji Trophy tie, against Andhra beginning here on October 6.
Despite Dinesh Karthik in the India T20 squad for the Australia series and Vijay Shankar part of the India A team playing against New Zealand A, the selectors have a problem of plenty. With a source confirming the availability of R Ashwin and M Vijay too likely for the first few games, the team looks soild. The choice of captain at the moment is a toss-up between Abhinav Mukund (in pic) and Baba Indrajith.
“We had three options, Abhinav, Vijay Shankar and Indrajith. With Vijay not available, it’s between Abhinav and Indrajith. Abhinav’s experience will come in handy and he will mostly retain the job,’’ said a source. The biggest problem is to fix a role and slot for Washington Sundar. He played five games last year as an opener and was not part of the semifinal line-up that lost to Mumbai.
“Washington is an amazing talent. When Abhinav and Vijay open, he has to bat down the order. We see him as a batting all-rounder with Vijay Shankar. It’s up to the team management to decide on a slot depending on the situation and conditions,’’ added the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
T Natarajan, Aswin Crist, K Vignesh, M Mohammed are the top four mediumpacers Tamil Nadu have at the moment.
“Natarajan has improved his fitness and is back on track. Aswin Crist is yet to recover from an injury sustained during the Tamil Nadu Premier League. So the choice narrows down between Natarajan, Vignesh, Mohammed and J Kousik. Three of the four may be part of the squad, depending on conditions. Rahil Shah and Malolan Rangarajan are likely as specialist spinners in the 15,” said the source. It is more or less certain that N Jagadeesan will be the wicketkeeper in the absence of Karthik.
Under Kanitkar, Tamil Nadu had a good last season, losing in the semifinals of Ranji Trophy, other than winning the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Deodhar Trophy one-day titles.
ashok.v@newindianexpress.com