DINDIGUL: In the recent past, seldom has any Tamil Nadu side gone into a Ranji Trophy season with so much uncertainty in store.There may not be any chaos within their setup, but their pace battery has been ravaged by injuries and some big names are unavailable due to national commitments. That scenario is likely to last through the season.
Despite having the services of Test regulars Murali Vijay and Ravichandran Ashwin for their opening fixture against Madhya Pradesh — at NPR College grounds in Natham from Thursday — how Tamil Nadu will respond sans a reliable pace battery could tell a story or two.
Tamil Nadu though, are already showing signs of adapting to these challenges. Captain Baba Indrajith insists on not expecting miracles, given how thin their pace department looks. In the absence of Aswin Crist, T Natarajan and K Vignesh, M Mohammed is their lone experienced pacer, with 11 first-class fixtures. Newcomers R Rohit and Abishek Tanwar complete the troika.
With the fixtures and squads for India’s tour to Australia already out, Tamil Nadu at least know when they will have their stars available, and much of their strategy seems to revolve around it.“There are going to be a lot of changes. We have to keep adapting. When they (India players) are there, we have to make full use. It won’t be easy to keep changing our combination in almost every match, and that is going to be a huge challenge for me as a captain,” remarked Indrajith.
“Ideally, you would like to have your core players in the final XI throughout the season. But that is not going to happen for us. So we need to be prepared for it. With regards to our pacers, they may be inexperienced, but they are skilful. It is going to take a season or two for this team to find its feet.”
Though these things are bound to trouble any side, Tamil Nadu’s case is complicated by factors that they could have controlled. A cramped pre-season — Tamil Nadu Premier League and VAP Trophy — meant that they couldn’t test their fringe players in Buchi Babu Trophy (postponed because there was no window). A revamped Vijay Hazare Trophy format resulted in more matches (some being back-to-back), increasing player workload before the Ranji season.
If this isn’t enough, Indrajith is trying to change something of a bad habit that Tamil Nadu have picked up over the last few seasons. Despite full-strength squads, they have been guilty of starting slow and then being on their toes towards the end of the league stage.
“That’s on the back of our mind. We have not started well in the last three seasons. We need to switch on early, and that comes with game awareness. We have this tendency to go with the flow and then react to situations. The first day is always important. That’s something we have spoken about because if you find the rhythm early on, it will set the tone.”
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com