Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018-19: Ravichandran Ashwin to lead Tamil Nadu; Murali Vijay dropped

India Test spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will lead Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament to be held in Surat from 21 February to 2 March. Opener Murali Vijay doesn’t find a place in the squad announced on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4284363” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Ravichandran Ashwin. Reuters[/caption] Young all-rounder MS Washington Sundar is back in the team after missing action for a while following an injury during the limited-overs leg of the Australia tour, a TNCA press note said. He has been named vice-captain of the squad. All-rounder Vijay Shankar, who is currently with the Indian team playing in the T20 series in New Zealand after making his ODI debut in Australia, has been picked in the 16-man squad. Murali Vijay, who was dropped after failing to shine in the first two Tests in the series Down Under, had featured in a Tamil Nadu Cricket Association I Division league match on Wednesday. B Indrajith, the captain of the Ranji Trophy side has been named while his twin brother B Aparajith doesn’t feature in the team. The squad also includes C Hari Nishaanth, who did well in the Tamil Nadu Premier League last year apart from R Vivek, who came to the fore with his big hitting. Leg-spinner M Ashwin joins Sai Kishore and the skipper R Ashwin in the spin department. Tamil Nadu open their campaign against Rajasthan on 21 February. Squad: R Ashwin (captain), MS Washington Sundar (vice-captain), N Jagadeesan (wk), C Hari Nishaanth, M Shahrukh Khan, B Indrajith, R Vivek, T Natarajan, M Mohammed, J Kousik, R Sai Kishore, M Ashwin, NS Chaturved, Vijay Shankar, V Athisayaraj Davidson, Abhishek Tanwar.