Tamil Nadu opening batsman M Vijay has pulled out of the upcoming edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament citing "personal reasons", while K Vignesh, the medium-pacer, was not up for selection after testing positive for Covid-19. They have been replaced in the 26-strong list of probables by L Suryaprakash, a 31-year-old batsman who has played three T20s and eight first-class matches for Tamil Nadu, and RS Jaganath Sinivas, a 22-year-old medium-pacer with one first-class appearance.

The squad - headlined by players like Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar, Sandeep Warrier, M Ashwin and R Sai Kishore - will play three practice matches among themselves on December 19, 20 and 21 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai before the final squad is picked on December 21. Tamil Nadu are in Elite Group B in the tournament, scheduled to start on January 10 next year, along with Assam, Bengal, Hyderabad, Jharkhand and Odisha, and will play all their matches in Kolkata.

Vijay, now 36 and a veteran of 61 Tests, 17 ODIs and nine T20Is, played three matches for the Chennai Super Kings in the latest edition of the IPL, but without a noteworthy performance. He is vastly experienced in the format, having turned out in 169 T20 matches over the years, scoring 4223 runs at an average of 26.22 and strike rate of 122.19, with three centuries.