Ranji Trophy 2017/18: Tamil Nadu hold the edge against Andhra

CHENNAI: Despite the absence of a couple of medium pacers due to injury and two players on India A duty, Tamil Nadu holds an edge against Andhra in the Ranji Trophy season-opener at Chepauk.

With the BCCI organising India A series regularly, performance in Ranji is all the more significant now as it gets youngsters an opportunity to display their talent at a higher level. In the match starting on Friday, all eyes will be on Tamil Nadu’s young duo Washington Sundar and N Jagadeesan.

“Jagadeesan is a guy who has a hundred on first-class debut. He missed out on opportunities because Dinesh Karthik has been a consistent feature in the team. I think he should grab this opportunity and seal his spot as a second wicketkeeper,’’ said Tamil Nadu skipper Abhinav Mukund.

On Wednesday Karthik trained at Chepauk for a day. He paid attention to Jagadeesan and gave the youngster some wicketkeeping drills. Karthik made fielding coach R Prasanna a dummy batsman and gave throwdowns.

Prasanna left some and edged a few. Jagadeesan had to be alert and kept gathering diving to his left. This was Karthik’s way of polishing his gathering skills.

“It’s a good opportunity and I want to make the most of it. Naturally, keeping to the spinners is the big challenge. Keeping to R Ashwin is more challenging as he has a lot of variations and gets bounce,’’ said the 21-year-old.

“Luckily, I have kept to him at Dindigul Dragons in the TNPL. That will come in handy.”

Jagadeesan is known to be an aggressive batsman. Will it be the same or will he change his approach? “I will play my natural game, which is my strength. What I intend to do is be more judicious in shot selection and try to build an innings,’’ said Jagadeesan.

Washington, who turned 18 on Thursday, wants to express himself.

“I don’t want to add any extra pressure on me,’’ he said. What sets him apart from others? “He has maturity beyond age. He is very talented and knows how to go about his job. He has it in him to go to the next level,’’ complimented S Sharath, chairman of selectors.

TN will mostly go in with three spinners (Ashwin, Washington, Rahil Shah). Even then, medium pacer V Lakshman has a good chance to make his debut. Andhra have brought back veteran Venugopal Rao, who plays league in Chennai.

“We want some experience in the middle order. We have many who play here in the city league and it is advantageous for us. We have a good team and it will be a good contest,’’ said Hanuma Vihari, captain of Andhra.

ashok.v@newindianexpress.com