TNPL 2021: Murali Vijay, Anirudha Srikkanth pull out

Ruby Trichy Warriors suffered twin blows on Wednesday as senior players Murali Vijay and Anirudha Srikkanth pulled out citing personal reasons. All-rounder Varun Totadri and young batsman S. Kesav Krishna were named as replacements.

Defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies' wicketkeeper-batsman Ram Arvindh, too, was ruled out of the tournament after suffering a finger injury during training.  The 20-year-old Arvindh will be replaced by left-arm spinner R. Ajith Kumar, who was in their squad last season.

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RTW mentor Sreekumar Nair put up a brave front and was hopeful that Varun and Kesav will do well.

“Due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, we couldn’t get both the stalwarts (Vijay and Anirudha) available for the tournament. We needed certain gaps to be filled so that’s one of the reasons why we have gone for the two replacements,” the former Kerala all-rounder said, after the team’s practice session on Wednesday.