Tamil Nadu squad for the Ranji Trophy season opener announced

Baba Aparajith will be Tamil Nadu’s trump card in this Ranji season

The Ranji Trophy season is all set to get kicked off later this month and all the teams are busy in picking the right combinations. The Tamil Nadu selectors led by Kris Srikanth sat together and picked a 15 man squad for the brand new edition of Ranji Trophy.

Medium Pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji will lead Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy season opener against Services in New Delhi from October 27-30. Subramaniam Badrinath will be his deputy. This decision was made after Badri opted to lead the List A Tamil Nadu side as he preferred the longer format needs a bowler to lead the side.

Balaji, who missed out on the last season due to injury, will be more than keen to make amends this season. The squad possesses newcomer in B Indrajith who had a terrific Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament and finished as the highest run getter for TNCA President’s XI, while U Sushil makes a comeback after two seasons as a second wicketkeeper alongside Dinesh Karthik.

The squad will miss the services of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who will be on national duty. Indian Test opener Murali Vijay is looking forward to the challenge. “It is always important to be on at your best in whichever format you play. I am looking forward to the Ranji season,” Vijay said.

The team boasts of fine talent in the form of B Aparajith who is in the midst of a run-scoring spree. The 19-year-old Aparajith made everyone take notice, scoring a scintillating double hundred on his Duleep Trophy debut against West Zone and made it two tons in two matches when he scored a valiant 109 in the Duleep Trophy semi finals against Central Zone.

The responsibility of putting runs on the board will rest on the strong shoulders of Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthick, Badrinath, Aparajith and Abhinav Mukund, while L Balaji, Aswin Crist, Sunil Sam, Malolan Rangarajan, Aushik look to keep the opposition on the back-foot with the ball.

Tamil Nadu, which had an ordinary run, will want to go all out right from the opening game in order to regain the coveted title they last won in 1987-88. Under new coach WV Raman, the side appears well-balanced, and ready for the big battle.

The team: L Balaji (captain), S Badrinath (vice-captain), Abhinav Mukund, M Vijay, B Aparajith, R Prasanna, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar, R Aushik Srinivas, KB Arun Karthik, Malolan Rangarajan, B Indrajith, Sunil Sam, M Mohammed, U Sushil, A Aswin Crist.