CHENNAI: WITH the Senior Division League of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) set to begin on Thursday, the participating clubs have left no stone unturned to strengthen their squads. A few teams went for inter-club transfers, while many roped in new players.
Defending champions Jolly Rovers and Alwarpet CC owned by the Sanmar Group have made some intelligent choices ahead of the season. Jolly Rovers have retained Ankit Bawne and Jalaj Saxena while Assam’s Mukhtar Hussain and Akshay Wadkar from Vidarbha are their new recruits.
“Players availability, requirement and utility were the guiding factors behind our choices. Ankit and Jalaj have been performing extremely well and we are happy to have them. Mukhtar Hussain is a talented medium pacer, who can come good even on flat surfaces. Akshay Wadkar is a talented wicketkeeper and a gritty batsman. We hope these four contribute and help our skipper Kaushik Gandhi to retain the title,’’ said former India cricketer Bharath Reddy, who is chief of the cricket operations of the Sanmar group. Saurabh Kumar of UP, Vidarbha’s Akshay Wakhare and Ruturaj Gaikwad from Maharashtra will play for Alwarpet CC this season.
Jolly Rovers’ arch-rivals Vijay CC have roped in Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sandeep Warrier (Kerala) and Chirag Gandhi (Gujarat). “Pradosh is a talented batsman who made his debut for Tamil Nadu last season. Sandeep has been playing in Chennai for a long time. He is aware of the conditions, has good pace and thus will be handy for us. Chirag ia another value addition,’’ said Malolan Rangarajan, captain of Vijay CC.
Ace India spinner R Ashwin will lead MRC ‘A’ this season while Cheteshwar Pujara, who played last season, will continue his association with the team. Smit Patel and left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar are the new additions. Harpreet has come in place of Axar Patel.
AG’s Office and Swaraj CC are the two newly promoted teams in the league. “We have hired services of Punjab’s Himanshu Chawla and Avi Barot from Saurashtra. We also have talented U-23 player from Saurashtra Parth Bhut. Since there is no budget, we could not go for big names,’’ said A Murugan, who handles AG’s Office team.
Swaraj CC will be managed by former Ranji player Vasanth Saravanan. They have recruited Arpit Vasavada, Mandeep Singh and VA Jagadeesh from Kerala.