TN keen not to show desperation, suggests Abhinav

The Tamil Nadu captain said his team will "take every day as it comes" against Tripura.

Abhinav Mukund confirmed Dinesh Karthik will play if his flight landed on time in the morning.

Tamil Nadu captain Abhinav Mukund said his team would not play as if it was desperate for an outright win against Tripura.

He said here on Friday, “There is a lot of rain around, it might be a start-stop game. I don’t look at results, I look at the process and take every day as it comes.” On the areas to improve, Abhinav said, “We want to take more responsibility as batsmen and put more runs on the board in the first innings. We talked about this.”

Read: Shaken TN to face minnow Tripura

Abhinav revealed Karthik had rung him up to make himself available. “If Karthik’s flight lands on time in the morning, he will play.”

He said the Tamil Nadu bowling was really dependent on pitches for success. “Five years back there was a lot of clay. Now, the surface is better.”

Queried about Rahil Shah, Abhinav said the left-arm spinner was a rhythm bowler. “He will come back strongly,” the captain said. On Tripura as an opposition, Abhinav said, “I don’t take any team lightly, particularly in the last few years. There is a lot of funding and all teams have a couple of professionals.”

Tripura captain Manisankar Murasingh said, “We watched the Tamil Nadu-Andhra game on internet. Tamil Nadu is a strong side but we have some good players and are confident.” Murasingh felt if Tamil Nadu went all out for an outright win, his team would get an opportunity to sneak into the match.