Published: Sep 30, 2015, 07:14 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 30, 2015, 07:14 PM (IST)
Having produced authoritative strokemakers, spinners and fast bowlers of high pedigree, Tamil Nadu have been a domestic force, having won the Ranji Trophy once and finished runners-up 6 times, endeavouring to create India players of substance. There has been a number of international cricketers from the state, but somehow none can claim to have a standout career. Murali Vijay and Ravichandran Ashwin are the ones from the current crop who feature in India’s Test XI regularly. Their peers Lakshmipathy Balaji, Dinesh Karthik, Abhinav Mukund, and until last year, Subramaniam Badrinath, proved pillars of a strong team that enjoyed fruitful seasons with some regularity. Read all Ranji Trophy 2015-16 team previews here
Under Karthik they reached the semi-final in 2010-11 but lost to eventual champions Rajasthan. They were led by Balaji the following year and went one step further, but lost to Rajasthan again. They had an indifferent run in the next two seasons, but under a slightly different unit in 2014-15, they reached the final again, losing to a rampant Karnataka. Punjab in Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Harbhajan Singh-led side aims to put up better performance
Youngsters Aushik Srinivas and Malolan Rangarajan have led their spin attack bodes well for them for the future. They also have in their ranks an all-rounder of potential, Baba Aparajith, part of the Under-19 World Cup winning team, and his twin, Baba Indrajith. Another all-rounder, a batting one, led the averages tally for them last season: Vijay Shankar scored 577 runs in 11 innings at 57.70. The stalwarts Balaji (appointed player-coach as part of a last-moment decision), Karthik, and Mukund are still around, capable of match-winning efforts. Mumbai in Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Khadoos Army aim for glory under Aditya Tare
Tamil Nadu are in Group B in Ranji Trophy 2015-16 they will contest the Ranji Trophy in Group B along with Baroda, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Railways, Andhra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Punjab, to qualify for which they will realistically aspire to.
Squad: Abhinav Mukund (c), Baba Indrajith (vc), Umashankar Sushil, Baba Aparajith, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Bharath Shankar, DT Chandrasekar, Kaushik Gandhi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), M Mohammed, Ramaswamy Prasanna, Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah, Vijay Shankar, Lakshminarayanan Vignesh
