Tamil Nadu, riding high on confidence following its innings victory against Railways, will look to get another outright win when it takes on Chandigarh in the fourth-round Ranji Trophy (Elite Group C) match here at the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Science ground starting here on Friday.
The seven points in the previous round got TN’s campaign back on track after losing the first game to Gujarat, while the encounter against Tripura was affected by bad light, giving both sides just one point.
The hosts got a boost with the arrival of vice-captain Pradosh Ranjan Paul, who missed the last two matches due to India A commitments. One of Sandeep Warrier or M. Mohammed could also be rested, with pacer Kuldeep Sen likely to play his first game of the tournament.
With N. Jagadeesan roaring back to form with a double-century and left-arm spinners R. Sai Kishore and S. Ajith Ram among wickets, the home team will fancy its chances to pocket full points on conditions that should help the spinners.
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Meanwhile, Chandigarh has had a poor start to its season after it conceded the first-innings lead to Railways and Goa. Its previous game against Gujarat was affected by light, with only 26 overs of action possible.
The visitors will look for some inside knowledge about TN from leg-spinner M. Ashwin, who moved out of the southern side last year.
TN skipper Sai Kishore feels his side is on the right path as it aims to qualify for the knockouts for the first time since 2016-17. “The puzzles are falling in place for us as a team, and the players have clarity on their roles. We now have a pattern of play that has been set, and we must stick to it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chandigarh skipper Manan Vohra felt his batters needed to come up with better efforts, saying, “As a batting unit, we need to start playing long sessions and start applying ourselves a bit more.”
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