Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021: Tamil Nadu pacer T Natarajan ruled out 

Tamil Nadu suffered a blow ahead of their Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign with seamer T Natarajan ruled out due to a knee niggle. The news comes on the back of the team's thrilling last-ball victory against Karnataka in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

T Natarajan featured in the final, but the troubled knee kept him out of the quarterfinals and semifinals of the T20 tournament. As per The Times of India, the pacer will head to the NCA for some rehab while the team gears up to take on Mumbai in their season opener on December 8.

"He (T Natarajan) is going to NCA for rehabilitation and we aren't sure as to how long he will be out of action. It's a big loss for the Tamil Nadu side ahead of the tournament," one of the sources told the outlet.

This is just a mounting concern for T Natarajan, who even sat out of the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) after he underwent a knee surgery earlier this year.

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Vijay Shankar to lead Tamil Nadu in Vijay Hazare Trophy

Following their impressive win in SMAT 2021, Vijay Shankar, who captained the team, will again helm the side in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

"Vijay Shankar has led the side admirably in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and it is only natural that he will be given an extension in that role," a TNCA official told The Times of India.

The publication has also reported that Baba Aparajith will complete his India A assignment and link up with Tamil Nadu.

Also back in the fold for the Vijay Hazare Trophy are Dinesh Karthik and Washington Sundar. Karthik missed the SMAT 2021 due to injury, while Sundar has missed cricketing action since sustaining a finger injury that ruled him out of the England Test series and the second half of the IPL this year.

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Tamil Nadu squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021:

Vijay Shankar (c), N Jagadeesan (vc), Dinesh Karthik, C Hari Nishaanth, M Shahrukh Khan, R Sai Kishore, M Ashwin, Sandeep Warrier, M S Washington Sundar, M Siddharth, B Sai Sudharsan, V Ganga Sridhar Raju, M Mohammed, J Kousik, P Saravana Kumar, L Suryapprakash, B Indrajith, R Sanjay Yadav, M Kaushik Gandhi, R Silambarasan.