CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu senior state team will begin their campaign against Maharashtra in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament to be played at Lucknow.
The defending champions will be led by Vijay Shankar in the absence of Dinesh Karthik. Maharashtra will be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad who had a fruitful IPL and has the likes of experienced Kedar Jadhav in its ranks.
Tamil Nadu chief coach M Venkataramana sees this as an opportunity for youngsters to perform. He is confident that Tamil Nadu will do well in the tournament as the team had good balance in its ranks.
"The preparation for the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament has been good. We are very well prepared. We had a satisfying camp for about 10 days and the boys trained well and managed the work load well,'' said Venkataramana.
During the camp the team had some practice games and this gave the new coach to have a look at the boys and narrow down on the playing XI.
"It is important to start the season on a positive note. The practice games gave a good insight into the players. The boys are up with their task and happy with the roles they are going to be engaged with during the tournament,'' revealed the former NCA coach.
Tamil Nadu will be playing the group stage matches in Lucknow. The conditions will be different from Chennai. It all boils down to how the players adapt themselves. The team has the right mixture of experience and youth. Sai Sudarshan in particular was good in the TNPL and VAP trophy. "The boys have adapted well to the conditions.The conditions in Lucknow are almost similar to the conditions in Chennai so there should be no problem. Sai Sudarshan is striking well. He will be the player to watch in coming years,'' said Venkataramana.
Vijay Shankar will be leading the state after a while. He has done well as a captain in the past in white ball cricket. Recently he had said that he wishes to bat higher in the top order in order to make a comeback into the Indian team.
"Vijay Shankar has done well in the past as captain for Tamil Nadu. He has a good rapport with the players. He will play a main role in our batting. We have quite a few all-rounders in the squad, depending upon the conditions on Thursday morning we will pick the XI,'' said Venkataramana without disclosing the position Vijay would bat.
Last time Tamil Nadu won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy several players got a chance to be part of the various IPL squads. Both T Natarajan and Varun Chakravarthy made it to the Indian team on the basis of their IPL show.
With the IPL auctions in a short while and two more new teams in the premier league, the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament will be keenly followed by all the talent scouts of the various IPL teams.
"This tournament will be keenly followed. I am keen the players perform well for the state and help us win the trophy. When you do that automatically you will be get noticed by the IPL teams. Would be happy if more players get to play in the IPL next season,'' said Venkataramana.