Ajith Ram reaping the benefits of long spells as he aims to shine for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy

On a wicket that offered little to no help for the spinners, Ajith hammered away for 42 overs in two days for his four wickets for TNCA XI so far in the Buchi Babu Memorial All India cricket tournament semifinal.

File image of Ajith Ram during the Buchi Babu Memorial All India cricket tournament. | Photo Credit: Periasamy M/ The Hindu

Just like the workhorse Boxer in George Orwell’s Animal Farm loves working harder, Ajith Ram loves bowling long spells.

On a wicket that offered little to no help for the spinners, he’s hammered away for 42 overs in two days for his four wickets (four for 109) for TNCA XI so far in the Buchi Babu Memorial All India cricket tournament semifinal versus Chhattisgarh at the NPR College cricket ground in Natham here.

“In general, wherever I play, I love bowling a lot. The way I look at it, long spells mean a lot of opportunities to pick up wickets. I enjoy doing it,” said the 25-year-old left-arm spinner on Tuesday.

Just like adjusting the radio dial to tune into the right frequency, he said he likes to keep bowling to plot a batter’s dismissal.

“When you bowl a lot in the long format, you learn a lot. What speeds to bowl at, where to bowl what ball to which batter and all. You patiently build up for a batter. I like that a lot. That’s why, I love long spells a lot.”

Though he prised out Chhattisgarh opener Shashank Chandrakar in just ten deliveries with the new ball on the first day, the dismissal gives an understanding of his instinctive learning.

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Chandrakar swept the ball back-to-back from the middle-stump line for a six and a four to the square leg boundary in his first over. So, in his next over, Ajith smartly darted in a shorter and just-outside-off delivery. The batter, playing for the turn, went on the backfoot to cut the ball, which hit his back pad in line for him to be dismissed leg before wicket (lbw).

“Since I was bowling with the new ball, I tried to bowl cautiously to see what he does. When he hit those two sweeps, I got the idea that he’s going to take me on.

“Since he was sweeping easily on the stump line, I thought I’ll bowl it outside the stump line. I had bowled the previous two deliveries (before the dismissal) a bit slower. So, I tried to see what he does when I bowled it a bit quicker. I thought maybe he’ll go for the sweep again and I’ll get an lbw opportunity. I bowled it just short and because of that the ball got a lot of time to sharply go in as well. Also, since it was a new ball, it went in sharper than I expected,” he said.

Ajith finished as the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy, with 41 wickets from 13 innings for Tamil Nadu. He is the leading wicket-taker after five rounds in the TNCA first division cricket league, with 32 wickets for Globe Trotters SC.

He wants to continue his fine form for Tamil Nadu this season.