Dinesh Karthik available to lead Tuti in TNPL opener
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.
Dinesh Karthik available to lead Tuti in TNPL opener - Cricbuzz
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