Tamil Nadu are set to start tomorrow’s final against Himachal Pradesh as the favourites in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, scheduled to be played in Jaipur. The summit clash will start tomorrow at 9 am. Himachal Pradesh, led by former India player Rishi Dhawan, are aiming to win their first-ever Vijay Hazare title.
Himachal Pradesh defeated Services by 77 runs and Tamil Nadu on the other hand, won a last ball thrilling match to oust Saurashtra by two wickets.
After bagging the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy this season, Tamil Nadu will be hoping to win a double by claiming the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well.
Tamil Nadu will be hoping to get the services of Baba Aparajith after the player improved his game since his return from the India A's tour of South Africa. The Tamil Nadu opener scored a terrific century against Saurashtra in the semi-final. Another opener N Jagadeesan on the other hand, also has been in good form after hammering a century against Karnataka and would be keen to put his failure in the semi-final behind and get his form back.
Tamil Nadu’s formidable line-up which includes, Aparajith's twin brother Baba Indrajith, who hit a crucial half-century in the last-four match, skipper Vijay Shankar, experienced wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik along with the finishing firepower of M Shahrukh Khan and Washington Sundar can surely change the fortunes of the game at any point of time.
Himachal Pradesh, which undoubtedly performed much better than the expectations, would depend a lot on skipper Rishi Dhawan. The 31-year old skipper will play a vital role for his side with both the bat and ball. He will have to lead from the front if his team aim to win its maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Although, Himachal would be more than pleased with the form of batter Prashant Chopra. The opening batsman played two-match winning knocks in the quarterfinal and semi-final, hitting 99 and 78 respectively, and would be eager to notify his abilities in the final.
However, Himachal appears to be pretty much dependent on these three batters and others like Shubham Arora, Digvijay Rangi, Amit Kumar, Akash Vasisht need to notch runs for their side.
