The last time Tamil Nadu lifted the Vijay Hazare Trophy — the inter-State one-day championship — Dinesh Karthik scored a fluent hundred against the Mohammed Shami-led Bengal bowling attack in the 2016-17 final.
The Tamil Nadu team will look up to its veteran to reignite the fire as it begins its Group E campaign on Saturday against Goa at the Dadoji Konddev Stadium.
Karthik, 38, had been involved as a commentator for the World Cup. However, after being reappointed as captain for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the veteran warlord diligently joined his teammates for the preparation in Boisar on the outskirts of Mumbai over the last week.
On Friday, while Goa took it easy after its defeat against Madhya Pradesh in the opening game on Thursday, Karthik and Co. had a long session here for almost three hours. Head coach Sulakshan Kulkarni was confident Karthik’s presence would boost the team in a big way.
“His commitment has been excellent. Even after checking in very late at night during the World Cup knockouts, he used to be the first one out on the park the next morning,” Kulkarni told The Hindu after the session.
While a majority of Tamil Nadu players will be playing at the stadium for the first time, neither Karthik nor Kulkarni are alien to it. During his stint with the Kolkata Knight Riders, Karthik used to regularly train at the venue. Kulkarni is a hometown boy and returns to the venue where he made his Mumbai debut almost four decades ago.
Over the last week, the Karthik and Kulkarni combine — with L. Balaji’s able help — has been able to shed the disappointment of exiting in the preliminary stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last month.
“The pitches were a bit sluggish over there and our batters struggled to adjust. Not only will the red-soil pitches help our batters, but to ensure they adapt quickly, we have been training here for a week. Let’s hope we get off to a good start,” Kulkarni said.
Goa will heavily rely on Rahul Tripathi, its import from Maharashtra who started off with a scintillating 92 against Madhya Pradesh, to negate Kuldip Sen’s raw pace. The duel between the two guest players will be an interesting affair should the pitch continue to assist the pacers the way it did on Thursday.
