R.I. Palani has been appointed cricket manager, M. Sanjay, the coach, and L. Balaji, the bowling coach-cum-player, of the Tamil Nadu Ranji team for the coming season.
Their names were approved by the executive council of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) here on Tuesday.
As reported by this newspaper, left-handed opening batsman Abhinav Mukund has been appointed captain. Promising young batsman B. Indrajith will be the vice-captain.
Tamil Nadu begins its campaign against Baroda at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on October 1.
Palani, who attended the selection meeting, said, “It is a well balanced side. Performers have been rewarded. Aushik Srinivas misses out but another left-arm spinner D.T. Chandrasekar has been doing extremely well this season.”
The side’s cricket manager said, “M.S. Washington Sundar is in contention for a place for India in the under-19 World Cup. So he will play the South Zone inter-state under-19 tournament and then the inter-zonal competition in the same age category to be eligible for selection in the junior World Cup squad. Otherwise he would have been picked.”
Vijay’s fitnessIndia opener M. Vijay, recovering from a hamstring strain, is expected to be available for the third match but a final call will be taken once his fitness is assessed.
Palani said: “There were other players who will be in contention during the season like Aushik, J. Kaushik and T. Natarajan. I would like to mention here that paceman Natarajan’s action has been cleared by the BCCI but we want him to spend some time under Balaji before being picked for State. Balaji will play in the eleven whenever the team needs him to.”
Chairman of the State senior selection panel S. Sharath told The Hindu , “We have ticked all the boxes while selecting the side. The panel believes the selection has been fair and transparent.”
On the selection of Chandrasekar at the expense of Aushik Srinivas, Sharath said, “Chandrasekar has forced the door open with his performances. This said, Aushik will remain in the radar.”
Sharath added, “This is a long season and cricketers such as K. Vignesh, I rate him the quickest bowler in the State, N. Jagadeesan and J. Kaushik will remain in contention for places across the three formats.”
The squad (against Baroda): Abhinav Mukund (captain), B. Indrajith (vice-captain), K. Bharath Shankar, Vijay Shankar, B. Aparajith, R. Prasanna, K. Dinesh Karthik, Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah, D.T. Chandrasekar, Aswin Crist, L. Vignesh, M. Mohammed, J. Kousik. Cricket manager: R.I. Palani; Coach: M. Sanjay; Bowling coach-cum-player: L. Balaji.
Wicketkeeper U. Sushil and top-order batsman M. Kaushik Gandhi will join the squad for matches against Madhya Pradesh in Indore from October 8 to 11 and against Mumbai (away) from October 15 to 18.
