Left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore was named Tamil Nadu captain for the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season on Monday, with Pradosh Ranjan Paul his deputy, when the state senior selection committee picked its 15-member squad for the premier First-Class competition in the country that starts on January 5.
Incidentally, Sai Kishore had already been earmarked as a future skipper by the previous selection committee, who named him skipper for the last two matches of the last season. However, the 27-year-old led only in one game as he missed the final league encounter due to illness.
Tamil Nadu has not qualified for the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy since the 2016-17 season and has not won a title since 1987-88.
In a significant boost to the pace attack, left-arm quick T. Natarajan made a comeback to the side after three years, having last played in 2020 against Railways in Chennai. Incidentally, Natarajan’s last First-Class game was his Test debut against Australia in Brisbane in 2021. Similarly, all-rounder M. Mohammed returns after being dropped in the previous season.
Former Madhya Pradesh pacer Kuldeep Sen, who switched to Tamil Nadu earlier this year, is unavailable for the first few games due to personal reasons.
However, the big surprise was the omission of the B. Aparajith. The selectors have instead gone for young batters B. Sachin and R. Vimal Khumar, who have done well in the first-division league and age-group tournaments recently.
“We are looking to build a team for the future and have got a mix of youth and experience. There are some good players coming through the under-19 and under-23 levels as well, and we want to start the transition process slowly,” said U.R. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the selection committee.
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