KOCHI: All the talk in Kerala's build-up to the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament has been surrounding the return of S Sreesanth. The 37-year-old is set to return to the cricket field after a long gap of nearly eight years as Kerala take on Puducherry in an Elite Group E fixture at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
However, the focus is not just on Sreesanth as it will also be the first major test for Tinu Yohannan as the head coach of Kerala.
Besides recalling Sreesanth to the team, the former Indian pacer also took the call to appoint Sanju Samson as the captain of the side and also bring in young talent like Vathsal Govind into the fray.
Yohannan understands that all the talks and attention will inevitably be surrounding Sreesanth and he is okay with that.
"For me and what I've seen for the last 20 days, it is the best thing that could have happened for Kerala cricket. The return of Sreesanth into the Kerala dressing room. And it's made a huge difference inside the team to just have his presence. His encouraging words and his experience which he had in international cricket and what he went through in the last 7-8 years, it is resonating through the whole team. It's a big positive energy and transformation that is happening inside the team," said Yohannan.
Sanju will be leading a side that will have experienced campaigners like Robin Uthappa, Jalaj Saxena, Sachin Baby, Basil Thampi and Asif KM who will lead their charge while the likes of Vathsal, Rojith K and P Midhun are the fresh faces.
After the departure of veteran coach Dav Whatmore, it is a new start for Kerala cricket under Yohannan and the leadership of Sanju who is arguably their biggest star at the moment.
"It's the best decision that we took to give him the captaincy this year because there is no one more eligible and deserving than Sanju to get that honour of leading the team. It was a very easy call to make Sanju the captain for the tournament. I think it is also the right time for Sanju to step in and be a leader. He also wants to show that he is a leader," said the 41-year-old coach.
The team had undergone a camp in December inside a bio-secure bubble at Alappuzha before heading to Mumbai and having adjusted to the bio-bubble in Mumbai, they are raring to go.
In the last edition, Kerala couldn't qualify from the group stages and Yohannan doesn't want to look too far ahead this time out.
"First of all, we are very fortunate to be getting the opportunity to play and it is unwise to think too far ahead. We will just take it one match at a time and especially in this format, things are very unpredictable. It's just a case of performing well on the day and we are focused only on tomorrow," he concluded.