Man behind TN’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy success lauds players

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief coach D Vasu is happy that his team defeated Baroda by seven wickets to win the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy at Ahmedabad on Sunday evening. Tamil Nadu finished undefeated in the tournament. During the course of the tournament, many players got opportunities at different stages and all of them delivered.

“Pleased with the effort of the boys. Due to their hard work and dedication, we won the tournament. It’s not easy to stay in a bio bubble and move from one centre to another. The boys adapted very well and played to their potential,’’ complimented Vasu.Proof of the players’ commitment was evident in the way M Siddharth played the final and delivered by taking four wickets.

“I told the boys at the beginning of the season that no one can take their place for granted. I told them straight away perform or perish. Credit to the boys they grabbed every opportunity they got. Look at Siddharth, he just played the final and took four wickets to win the match for us. That showed his commitment. This facet (commitment) was the reason behind our success,’’ explained Vasu.

Skipper Dinesh Karthik led by example and was judicious in his team selection, which led to 100 per cent success.“DK and other seniors like Arun Karthick contributed for the team’s cause. DK was spot on as captain and batted with a lot of commitment. He also guided the youngsters in the side and brought out the best in them. He ensured that we played as a team and kept achieving our targets one by one in a relaxed manner,’’ said Vasu.Choice and depth in batting was another reason that contributed to Tamil Nadu’s success.

“You see at times we had problem of choice as we had good variety in our attack. When we lost quite a few players due to injury or when someone left to join India team, we did not panic. We used our existing resources and emerged triumphant. We certainly take pride in the depth in our batting.”

Youngsters like N Jagadeesan, Sonu Yadav and M Shahrukh Khan gave a good account of themselves. “Sonu Yadav and Shahrukh Khan were absolutely brilliant and could be the find of the tournament. Sonu was first picked as we wanted to see how he bowls to left-handed batsmen. He bowled with lot of confidence. He seams the ball well and has a deceptive slower one. This (T20 meet) experience should give him lot of confidence.”