Vijay Hazare Trophy | Dinesh Karthik elated to have been appointed as Tamil Nadu captain

Although Abhinav Mukund, Vijay Shankar and Baba Indrajith have been leading various Tamil Nadu teams in the last few years, Dinesh Karthik has always been a mainstay and never ever kept himself away from the state team whenever he has a chance. Karthik, who was a part of the Indian team for the World Cup recently, will now have some extra responsibility after being named the captain of the Tamil Nadu team for the Vijay Hazare Trophy to be played at Jaipur from September 24 to October 16.

Chief selector M Senthilnathan told PTI that Karthik was picked ahead of the likes of Abhinav Mukund, R Ashwin and Vijay Shankar, keeping his experience in mind and his ability to motivate the players, having led various teams, including Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL for two consecutive seasons.

“Karthik has been picked because of his experience and leadership skills. He has led at various levels, including for KKR in the IPL and that will be handy,” he said.

After getting to know about his appointment, the keeper-batsman has stated that he is delighted to be back at the job.

“Happy and delighted to be back at the job. It is a huge honour to lead the state. It is a big responsibility. I will give my best shot and try to take Tamil  Nadu cricket forward,’’ said Karthik.

“With a lot of seniors around, we will definitely have a crack at it. I will certainly like to have team with the right mixture of experience and youth. We need to begin well and take forward the momentum in the tournament.”

Tamil Nadu have not performed to their potential over the last two seasons, despite having a robust T20 league and solid infrastructure in the form of TNCA league. Karthik feels the infusion of fresh talent is the way forward. 

“A reason was the inability of some players to up the quality of their game in challenging situations. I was surprised that there are not many players at the U-19 and U-23 levels who are pushing themselves for a place in the senior side. That is why the same set of players have been at it over for the last couple of years.”