Ranji Trophy: Tamil Nadu will ‘most probably’ qualify for knockouts, feels TN chief selector

Tamil Nadu sits atop elite Group-C with 21 points and a superior run quotient over Karnataka (21). It will play Karnataka and Punjab in its last two group matches.

Tamil Nadu team after beating Chandigarh in the Ranji Trophy match held in Coimbatore. | Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M/The Hindu

Tamil Nadu senior selection committee chairman U.R. Radhakrishnan on Monday said that the team vibe has been ‘very good’ and that Tamil Nadu will ‘most probably’ qualify for the knockout stage of the ongoing Ranji Trophy.

“As a team, I think we are gelling well and the dressing room is very happy. The vibe is very good and interesting. So, I think most probably we’ll be qualifying.

“We are one more game away. One more game with full points, and I think we are through to the knockout stage, which has not happened for almost six years. So, very happy for that,” he said after Tamil Nadu’s third consecutive win, versus Goa at the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) Academy ground here on Monday.

Tamil Nadu sits atop elite Group-C with 21 points and a superior run quotient over Karnataka (21). It will play Karnataka and Punjab in its last two group matches.

Opener N Jagadeesan has been pivotal for Tamil Nadu, having pulled it back with three victories, after a loss against Gujarat and an incomplete match versus Tripura. He’s had scores of an unbeaten 245, 321, and 75.

Jagadeesan had said that he felt insecure about his place in the team in both white-ball and red-ball cricket. “Since the first match of this season, I don’t know for what reason there has been an axe over my head,” he had said after the first day’s play against Railways in the third-round match.

When referred to it, Radhakrishnan said: “I think that must have definitely helped him to perform better. That way, I can put it as a positive thing. We want him to do well. Because he is there, he’s a senior professional.

“So, I think that definitely helped him. He wanted to perform and he did it brilliantly. That’s how he is. His game’s like that. When he’s in a corner, he does really well. He’s done that before. I’m very happy for him!”

The chief selector also recalled that he played two Ranji matches for Goa (versus Tamil Nadu and Andhra) under World Cup winner and the current BCCI president Roger Binny in 1991. “My last match was against Andhra. I got a hundred (182). Then, after that, I didn’t play at all.”