Ashwin and Vijay to not play Ranji Trophy quarter-final match against Karnataka

12/21/2016

Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and opener Murali Vijay will not be playing in the much-awaited Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Karnataka, to be played at Visakhapatnam on December 23. Former Karnataka skipper Robin Uthappa has also been excluded from his team due to his lack of form.

Although the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) named both Ashwin and Vijay in the squad initially for the high-voltage Cauvery derby, both players cited injury concerns for their unavailability. Vijay had suffered a shoulder injury in the fifth Test against England, but Ashwin played the match without any obvious discomfort.

Speaking to The Hindu, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary K.S. Viswanathan said, “Ashwin informed me today that he was suffering from sportshernia. He also said he would not be available for the match.”

Viswanathan also said that Vijay would undergo a scan on Tuesday night.

“After the scan results are out, we will know about Vijay’s availability. He may have to take cortisone injections for pain relief,” he said.

Abhinav Mukund will lead the squad with Vijay Shankar as his deputy. Tamil Nadu have a fair share of experience and youth in the squad to exact the revenge of their innings defeat in the final of the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy to Karnataka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Karnataka have also declared their team for the quarter-final match and have excluded former India wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa from the 16-man squad.

Uthappa had been the leading scorer in the country two seasons ago when he amassed 912 runs at 50.66, with two hundreds and five fifties from 19 innings when Karnataka retained their title in 2014-15. Last season, Although, Karnataka failed to advance beyond the league stage, he aggregated a team-high of 759 runs at 58.38 including three centuries and as many fifties and finished as the seventh in the run-scoring chart in the entire country.

But this year, Uthappa couldn’t replicate his old mojo as he has scored 328 runs from seven games.

The quarter-final round of the Ranji Trophy will be starting from 23rd December.