The Tamil Nadu probables for the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy season appear to have been selected on form. But, it is surprising that young Maruthi Raghav has not been inlcuded in the list. He is a batsman who displayed superb form in the league circuit and the Buchi Babu tournament. Raghav certainly deserved a look in.
The choice of young fast bowler Aswin Crist is also surprising as he is untried material. He has turned up for a none-too-strong club in the league circuit. However, his selction has to be supported as he’s done pretty well over the years in the league and age-group cricket. The TNCA First Division League has not been producing quality bowlers as it did about a decade ago. I wonder, therefore, why a genuine quick and experienced fast bowler like Chandrasekhar Ganapathy has not been considered.
The re-emergence of M. Mohammed, Sunil Sam and Jagannathan Kaushik augurs well for the season ahead. It was good to see that Sam spent time with the Aussie legend and MRF Pace Foundation guru Glenn McGrarth. That Bharath Arun is headng the Tamil Nadu Cricket Academy augurs well for fast bowlers in the State. He is a perfect teacher for young fast bowlers.
The selection of Baba Indrajith along with his twin brother Aparajith is most welcome. These siblings are the best bets for selection to the senior India squad in the none-too-distant future in view of their outstanding and consistent showing since last season. Aparajith did well for the Under-23 side that played in Singapore in the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Players tournament. We’ve never seen a batsman perform with such a degree of consistency in the recent past.
Older players like Abhinav Mukund and Anirudha Srikkanth will have to show better form. The media needlessly undermined the younger Srikkanth when he did well year before last, as he was playing under pressure of his illustrious father heading the national selection committee. Also, injuries hampered him last year.
It’s also good to see the emergence of Selvam Suresh Kumar through sheer dint of hard work. His excellent showing in the league and Buchi Babu games certainly proved him an all-rounder of merit. He also did well in the Moin ud Dowla Cup tournament.
Off-spinner Malolan Rangarajan was good in the league circuit but was most disappointing in the Buchi Babu final. It was here that he was really tested against a strong outfit from North India. He needs to learn from the experience. Left-arm spinner Aushik Srinivas is a dependable tweaker and should be the lynchpin of the home team attack. Rahil Shah should be a good back-up since he has performed well thus far. Leggie M. Ashwin has shown a lot of improvement this season. It is to be hoped that he overcomes his no-ball problem. A.C. Parthiban may be considered for the limited over tournaments where he’ll be quite handy.
Among the wicket-keepers chosen, Aditya Karthik appears to be the best bet when Dinesh is away on national duty. He appears pretty quick in his work.
It’s difficult to pinpoint as to who’d be the better captain, Lakshmipathy Balaji or Subramaniam Badrinath. It appears that the selectors have struck a compromise in naming Balaji to lead the team in the longer version of the game and Badrinath to lead the one-day combination.
The probables: S. Badrinath, L. Balaji, R. Ashwin, M. Vijay, A. Mukund, B. Aparajith, B. Indrajith, R. Prasanna, Vijay Shankar, Dinesh Karthik, S. Suresh Kumar, K.B. Arun Karthick, K. Bharat Shankar, S. Anirudha, Kaushik Gandhi, U. Sushil, Karthik Adithya, R. Rohith, R. Aushik Srinivas, Rahil Shah, Vijay Anand, M. Ashwin, Malolan Rangarajan, M. Prabhu, Sunil Sam, J. Kaushik, M. Mohammed, Aswin Crist, V. Yomahesh. – (Courtesy: Straight Bat)
– A Special Correspondent
