How will the neutral venues system, in place for Ranji Trophy this year, impact Tamil Nadu’s prospects? After all, home advantage would be a thing of the past.
When posed this question, State senior selection panel chairman S. Sharath was quick with his response during a chat with The Hindu here on Saturday.
“In the past few years, we have often done better away than at home. At home, some times there is too much scrutiny. Away from home, our cricketers have played with greater freedom and produced results,” he said.
Sharath also revealed Tamil Nadu’s mind-set for the coming season. “To win matches we need to pick five bowlers. We have to give ourselves the best chance of getting 20 wickets,” he said.
In other words, the approach would be attacking.
But, then, the bowlers will have to be backed by runs. “Our batsmen have not always been consistent. We have two experienced and senior cricketers in Abhinav Mukund and Dinesh Karthik. But they cannot be scoring all the time,” said Sharath.
“When they don’t get big runs the others have to chip in. We are hoping B. Aparajith, B. Indrajith, Vijay Shankar, and J. Kousik deliver.”
Could he explain the delay in naming the captain? “Our coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar, a calm, collected individual and an excellent cricketing brain, will have a look at the boys during the camp at Dehradun and have a one-on-one interaction with them. His suggestion will be given importance by us,” said Sharath.
The selection panel chief admitted omitting senior batsman R. Prasanna from the list of probables was a tough decision. “We called him up and spoke to him, and he took it well. A team-man, he’s made runs in difficult situations but we have to move on,” Sharath said.
On Prasanna’s replacement in the middle-order, Sharath said: “Kaushik Gandhi can play lower down the order also. N. Jagadeesan is in the picture. Washington Sundar brings with him some useful off-spin too. All of them will be considered.”
The TNPL, he said, allowed selectors to have a good look at the emerging players. “The TNCA did a fabulous job organising the tournament. Even though it was the shortest format, we could see how the players performed under pressure,” Sharath said.
Sharath agreed that, with Tamil Nadu playing away, the emphasis will be on pace. “Pace will be the key. T. Natarajan, K. Vignesh and L. Vignesh will back the already established Aswin Crist and M. Mohammad. We have options,” he said.
Spinners could come into the frame later in a match. “We have young left-arm spinners Sai Kishore, M.S. Sanjay and off-spinner Yazh Arul Mozhi to support R. Malolan, Rahil Shah, Aushik Srinivas and Murugan Ashwin. Again, we have people to choose from,” he said.
Was there cohesion in the selection process?
“Across individuals who attend meetings, there is harmony in the process,” replied Sharath.
