TNPL 2016: Will be tough to replace Baba Aparajith, says captain Malolan Rangarajan

VB Thiruvallur Veerans stand-in skipper Malolan Rangarajan, addressed the media ahead of their match against the Madurai Super Giants on Sunday, August 28, at NPR College Ground, Dindigul.

How is the mood in the camp after the winning the first game?

It has been a very good start for the boys. It is just that we have not been able to get a practice session here; luckily we could squeeze in one session today. Otherwise, the boys have been upbeat and we are looking forward to our next game against the Madurai Super Giants.

How will the absence of Baba Aparajith, centurion in the last match, affect the team?

Our bench strength is good though replacing someone like him is going to be tough. There are very few players in Tamil Nadu, who can play like him. One good thing about our team is there aren’t many known names, but they all have the capability to surprise many teams. So we are looking to replace him with our bench strength. I am pretty confident they will do well.

How much are you looking forward to playing in front of the crowd, which would largely consist of Madurai supporters?

Even if there are 100 supporters for our team, we would feel we have crowd support. There will be 3000 supporters cheering for the local team. There are players who will be playing in front of such a crowd for the first time, for each of them it is a very important tournament. For instance, players like Aparajith, Rahil Shah and I have been playing the game for 5-6 years and we would like to be a part of the Indian Premier League.

There are many other players want to play Ranji Trophy or first division cricket. They may get affected due to immense crowd support for the other side, but they are playing this tournament in a hope to play cricket at the next level. This tournament is in front of 4000 people, IPL will be in front of 40,000 people.

If they go on to play for India, they will have to play in front of foreign crowd as well. So, instead of looking at the crowd as a distraction, I hope they get motivated to perform well.

The pitch looks like it is more suited for the batsmen. Is your team concentrating more on the batting?

There are a lot of players who can bat well for us. In yesterday’s match Dindigul Dragons scored 140 odd in 18 overs and everyone thought Madurai will chase it down. But Dindigul bowled well and restricted the opponents. So we can’t really say that it is a batsmen’s pitch because we saw bowlers coming into play as well.

In our match (against Kaalai), Aparajith took away the game with his batting and I also contributed with a quick 30. Can’t really say, but yes it is conducive to batting because the ground is smaller and the wicket is fast. It is easier to bat on this wicket.

Any plans to counter Muruganantham’s leg-breaks?

Yesterday was the first time I saw Muruganantham’s bowling and we have a plan against him. Yes, he got four wickets but then we have four other bowlers to tackle as well. Yesterday it was Muruganantham, tomorrow we don’t know who it will be. We aren’t targeting him alone since we are looking to play well against all the five bowlers.

The only reason you are talking about Muruganantham is because he is an unknown quantity and has picked four wickets. For us, he is just another bowler from Madurai. They have got four other bowlers and we have to tackle others also. That’s the way I see it.