Vijay Hazare meet gets Ashwin, Vijay boost

The presence of ace offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Test opener Murali Vijay gives Tamil Nadu an advantage in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group ‘C’, when the matches begin here from Monday.

The host gets its campaign underway with a match against Gujarat and will expect to come up trumps in the tournament.

Ashwin, who has been out of the India ODI side since last year’s ICC Champions Trophy, will aim to be among the wickets and impress the selectors again.

The lanky off-spinner, who was recently snapped up by Kings XI Punjab in the IPL auctions, did well in the first two Tests of the series against South Africa before missing the third.

His experience could be vital for Tamil Nadu’s bowling unit in what are likely to be high-scoring conditions.

Vijay, on the other hand, who hasn’t featured in the limitedovers format for a while now, will look to use the tournament to run into form ahead of this year’s IPL. He has been picked by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the recent auctions.

The team led by all-rounder Vijay Shankar is a mix of youth and experience and the presence of Ashwin and Vijay adds strength to the line-up.

Shankar said the presence of the duo would be a motivating factor for the rest of the squad.

Having failed to progress to the knockout stage in the Ranji Trophy and come up short in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Super League in Kolkata, the team will be keen to make amends.

Tamil Nadu had a short camp leading into the tournament and captain Vijay Shankar said they had prepared well and that the aim was to perform well.

The team’s coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said the availability of Ashwin and Vijay would be a boost for the team.

He said he was not concerned about Ashwin not having played white ball cricket for over six months and said he expected to him do well.

“I expect everything from him.. He is a complete player.. He has got the experience and just recently played Test cricket at a very high level.. I am expecting that he turns up and does really well,” Kanitkar added.

The coach also confirmed that Murali Vijay will be opening for Tamil Nadu and the choice of the other opener will be made ahead of the game. He also said the return of paceman Aswin Crist from injury was good news.

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