Tamilnadu cricket team was once a very strong unit giving nightmares to all others in domestic circuits. Time and again, greats like Venkatraghavan, Srikanth, V B Chandrasekhar, W V Raman, Sivaramakrishnan, Hemang Badani, among others, went on to make a mark for themselves in international circuit representing the nation. A dominant team has gone from bad to worse today. They put up a dismal show in the Ranji Trophy followed by an average outing in Vijay Hazare.
Tamilnadu flopped in this year’s Vijay Hazare Trophy. Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik did not feature in the squad, while Murali Vijay played just a couple of matches. Their batting was a letdown. Except Abhinav Mukund and Aprajith, none got going. Stumper Jagadeesan showed sparkle in one match. Though Tamilnadu Premier League was hailed as a success, still they have not been able to dominate in the shorter version of the game. They could not chase small scores and bowlers toiled hard for wickets.
There is abundant talent. Besides the Baba brothers, Vijay Shankar and Mukund, they do have names that have hogged the headlines playing division matches. May be grooming pacers and teaching batsmen to stay in the middle and show some application would yield good results. Coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar has plenty to do. Hopefully, in the next season, Tamilnadu will bounce back and put up a gritty show.