Washington Sundar to return to action with Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Washington Sundar, the India allrounder, has been named in Tamil Nadu's squad of 20 for the season-opening Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20s starting November 4. Washington is currently recovering from a finger injury that forced him to miss the Test series in England as well the IPL and the T20 World Cup in the UAE.

Tamil Nadu are the defending champions, having beaten Baroda in the final of the 2020-21 edition in Ahmedabad earlier this year. The squad will be led by Dinesh Karthik, who has been part of both their title wins, with allrounder Vijay Shankar as his deputy. Vijay has been out of action in the ongoing IPL after being forced out by virtue of being a close contact of fast bowler T Natarajan, who is recovering from Covid-19.

Natarajan, too, is part of the Tamil Nadu squad, looking to revive his career that appears to have hit a roadblock after the highs of Australia earlier this year, having been sidelined by injuries. He was forced to miss the home series against England in March due to a knee injury.

A surgery he subsequently underwent forced him out of IPL's first leg that followed in India. He returned for the tournament's second leg in the UAE following months of rest and rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy, only to miss out due to Covid-19.

Natarajan, like Washington, will be looking to prove match fitness to the selectors ahead of India's long season of home internationals that begin with the T20I series against New Zealand from November 17. Given it starts barely three days after the T20 World Cup final, it's likely the selectors will pick a fresh set of players, keeping in mind bio-bubble fatigue the current lot of IPL and World Cup-bound players may have endured.

Some of the other key names in the Tamil Nadu squad include batting allrounder B Aparajith, wicketkeeper-batter N Jagadeesan, power hitter Shahrukh Khan and fast bowler Sandeep Warrier, who will be playing his second season with Tamil Nadu following a transfer from Kerala. The squad also features two rookies in batter B Sai Sudharsan and seamer P Saravana Kumar, both of whom impressed in the Tamil Nadu Premier League.

Placed in Group A, Tamil Nadu will start their campaign against Maharashtra on the tournament's opening day on November 4. The other teams in the group include Goa, Punjab, Odisha and Puducherry.

Squad: Dinesh Karthik (capt), Vijay Shankar (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Warrier, R Sai Kishore, B Aparajith, N Jagadeesan, M Ashwin, Shahrukh Khan, Hari Nishaanth, M Siddharth, Ganga Sridhar Raju, M Mohammed, J Kousik, R Sanjay Yadav, R Silambarasan, R Vivek Raj, B Sai Sudharsan, P Saravana Kumar