CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's Ranji Trophy-winning captain S Vasudevan has been appointed chairman of the state senior selection committee.
The decision was taken by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) on Tuesday. He replaces M Senthilnathan, who was not considered due to a conflict of interest arising out of his role as chief coach of MRF Pace Foundation.
The CAC comprising S Suresh, UR Radhakrishnan and Sudha Shah made one more change in the committee, bringing in TR Arasu in place of Ramkumar. K Bharath Kumar, R Venkatesh and Tanveer Jabbar continue as selectors.
Vasudevan was delighted and said the job was a big challenge for him.
"Pleased to be part of the selection committee. It is a big challenge and we would like to pick the best players keeping in mind their performances and utility in the side," he said. "We would like to first take stock of the situation, see how the boys have performed across the three formats and then discuss how to take the team forward."
Tamil Nadu have six-seven players who have played for the country, but picking the rest and striking the right balance has been a challenge.
"We have a good mixture of experience and youth. We would wish to pick players based on current performance,'' added the former left-arm spinner, who led Tamil Nadu to the Ranji Trophy title in 1987-88. A major problem for Tamil Nadu has been finding replacements for players who go on national duty. Sometimes, it has also been difficult to find replacements for players who got injured during the season.
"That is the main challenge. We are keen to develop good bench strength to meet the requirements as and when it arises," said Vasudevan, whose career-best figures of 7/59 came in that Ranji final against Railways.
Lack of all-rounders has been another problem since there is nobody other than Vijay Shankar who can be considered for that role.
"Ideally, we would like to select someone who bats and bowls with equal ability. If we cannot find a genuine all-rounder, we would like to groom someone who has potential. We would also like to see the under-23 talent that we have and see if there is a good all-rounder," said Vasudevan, who was also a handy batsman, with three first-class centuries.
Tamil Nadu has preferred a left-arm spinner with an off-spinner in the four-day format for a long while. In doing so, leg-spinner M Ashwin got overlooked despite doing well.
"We have to see what is the combination and how one fits into the role. We will pick the team with an open mind," said Vasudevan, adding that the selectors would visit districts to scout for talent.