SYED MUSHTAQ ALI TROPHY

Karnataka skipper R Vinay Kumar has been named the captain for South Zone for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The 16-member squad, which also includes Dinesh Karthik, Andhra skipper Hanuma Vihari and Mayank Agarwal, was announced on Friday (February 3). Tamil Nadu all-rounder Vijay Shankar has been named as the vice-captain while the team will be coached by Andhra's J Krishna Rao. The rest of the support staff includes: Sanjib Das (Trainer), Mahesh Barun (Physio), V Chaitanya Nag (Video analyst) and B Bapuji (Manager). Goa's Swapnil Asnodkar, Kerala's Sachin Baby, Tamil Nadu's Baba Aparajith and Aswin Crist, Andhra's K Ashwin Hebbar, Hyderabad's Mehdi Hassan and Karnataka's Suchith J have been named in the reserves. In the T20 Zonal League, Karnataka topped the South Zone table winning four of their five matches. Tamil Nadu, who won as many games, finished second owing to a lower net run rate. Hyderabad won three, while Andhra and Kerala won two each. Goa lost all their five encounters. As per the new format, the top performers from the T20 Zonal League from each zone will be selected to feature in the revamped inter-zonal Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. From South Zone, Tanmay Agarwal was the highest run-getter (overall) with 250 runs in five matches at a strike rate of 162.33, while Mohammad Siraj and Arvind Sreenath were the highest wickettakers with nine scalps each. Squad: R Vinay Kumar (Captain), Vijay Shankar (Vice Captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Mayank Agarwal, Vishnu Vinod, Ricky Bhui, Dinesh Karthik, G Hanuma Vihari, Pavan Deshpande, Rahil Shah, M Ashwin, D Swaroo Kumar, VC Milind, Basil Thampi, Sandeep Warrier, Aravind Sreenath.