Twenty20 flavour will be back at the MA Chidambaram Stadium
with Tuti Patriots taking on Chepauk Super Gillies in the Tamil Nadu
Premier League (TNPL) opener on Wednesday (August 24). The good news for
the fans and the Patriots side is the availability of their skipper
Dinesh Karthik, who had been earlier named in the India Blue squad for
the ongoing Duleep Trophy. Since the Blues start their campaign only on
August 29, wicketkeeper-batsman Karthik will be available to participate
in the TNPL opener.
Karthik seemed all excited ahead
of their match. "It's a great opportunity for youngsters. A lot of them
haven't played alongside the top Tamil Nadu stars. Our (Abhinav Mukund,
Karthik and L. Balaji) responsibility is to ensure that we help players
from districts realise their potential," Karthik said on the eve of the
game on Tuesday (August 23).
Tuti have in their ranks a variety of
seasoned domestic performers, while Chepauk, led by the wily R Sathish,
have plenty of proven T20 match-winners such as Thalaivan Sargunam, V.
Yo Mahesh and Anthony Dhas.
In the absence of opener Abhinav
Mukund, who scored a gritty 77 for India Red in the Duleep Trophy on
Tuesday, Karthik will bank on the young shoulders of opening batsman
Washington Sundar at the top.
With this being a first-of -its kind
tournament in the state, Karthik said he is banking a lot on the
information provided by his teammates on the unknown quantity in the
team. "If someone tells me that a certain batsman from the districts is
strong on the offside, I will go with that." the captain said.
The
pitch at Chepauk helps the spinners and Karthik will bank on left-arm
spinner Aushik Srinivas, who is a senior customer and has trained at the
National Cricket Academy for the last couple of weeks. Super Gillies,
on the other hand, have left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore in their ranks,
who can do some damage.
Super Gillies will also look to use V Yo
Mahesh's allround skills. Representing Grand Slam in the TNCA T20 meet,
Mahesh slammed a 38-ball 60 against Vijay CC and that could prompt the
team management to use him at the top of the order.
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