After Tamil Nadu’s disappointing outing in the Subbaiah Pillai Trophy, the selectors have played it safe for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season.
Although the name of B. Aparajith was doing the rounds, the selectors have finally settled for the seasoned left-handed middle-order batsman, R. Prasanna, as the State captain.
The selectors, on Saturday, named a 15-member squad for Tamil Nadu’s first two Ranji matches of the season — against Karnataka in Bengaluru from December 7 and Jammu & Kashmir at Dindigul from December 14.
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Left-arm paceman T. Natarajan is the new face in the side. He is sharp and brings variety to the line-up. J. Kaushik, considered useful in the longer variety for his ability to swing the ball, also makes the cut.
Kaushik gets the nod Top-order batsman M. Kaushik Gandhi has beaten back challenges from K.H. Gopinath and Bharath Shankar for his ability to hold the innings together.
In the absence of the experienced S. Badrinath, the selectors were seeking batsmen who can lend innings stability.
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U. Sushil, the back-up ’keeper, has been selected primarily for his wicket-keeping skills.
The side has four pacemen — L. Balaji, M. Mohammed, Kaushik and Natarajan — and two specialist spinners in offie Malolan Rangarajan and left-armer Aushik Srinivas.
The squad:
R. Prasanna (capt.), Abhinav Mukund, M. Kaushik Gandhi, B. Aparajith, Dinesh Karthik (wk), B. Indrajith, Malolan Rangarajan, L. Balaji, M. Mohammed, J. Kaushik, R. Aushik Srinivas, Vijay Shankar, U. Sushil (wk), T. Natarajan, and M. Shahrukh Khan.