CHENNAI:Hunt for Tamil Nadu’s Ranji Trophy coach is still on as nothing concrete came out at TNCA’s executive committee meeting on Saturday. It’s believed members were informed incumbent WV Raman has requested for a break and the association doesn’t want to rush for a successor.
TNCA secretary Kasi Viswanathan said nothing had been finalised and coach will be appointed before Buchi Babu Trophy, which generally begins in August. Some members suggested asking assistant coach M Sanjay to continue can be an arrangement, with an outstation coach taking over later. Foreigners were ruled out due to budget constraints. Among names doing the rounds was that of Hemang Badani, who said he has not thrown his hat in the ring due to business and other commitments. S Sharath was retained chairman of the state senior selection committee. P Subiah and B Ramprakash too will continue. Former state spinner R Venkatesh has been dropped from the committee and C Hemanth Kumar replaces him.
“I’m delighted with this role. Playing TNCA league for Jolly Rovers has helped me keep in tune with emerging talent,” said Hemanth, who played Ranji for Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “For long it was M Vijay and R Ashwin in India colours. Now we have B Aparajith and Vijay Shankar in India A. It’s a good sign. Like in the past when we had several like S Sriram, S Ramesh, Robin Singh playing for the country, this bunch can also emulate them,” said Hemanth.
Former Tamil Nadu opener Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan was named the state U-23 coach. Former Tamil Nadu all-rounder DJ Gokulakrishnan is the new U-19 coach.
The cricket development committee includes B Kalayanasundaram, Abdul Jabbar, Hemang Badani, B Arun, M Senthilnathan, S Ravi and S Ramji.