Heads may roll after Tamil Nadu’s poor season

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s domestic season ended with a win against Meghalaya, which wasn’t enough to qualify for the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, bringing curtains down on a disappointing season. Following setbacks in Ranji and Vijay Hazare Trophy, hopes were not high even though Tamil Nadu had Murali Vijay in the Ravichandran Ashwin- led squad for the T20 tournament in Surat.

As expected, this has not been well received by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which is mulling changes next season. While the contract of the support staff led by head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar ends this season, he still seems to have the backing of the top brass. But in a departure from the past, the TNCA seems to be unhappy with several players, including a couple of seniors, whose performance over the last couple of seasons has been mediocre.

However, it is not clear if Kanitkar is willing to extend his contract. Express understands that Ramji Srinivasan, the strength and conditioning coach, under whose training the team’s fitness increased to admirable levels, is not keen on continuing because of other commitments. While it is not clear what bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji is thinking, Kanitkar is expected to hold talks with TNCA in the coming days when he submits his report. But a decision on his extension will be put on hold till the end of July. Sources in the know indicated that the support staff are appalled by the attitude of a few players, which they believe is affecting the team.

While some were dropped for the T20s, there seems to be growing calls to drop them altogether next season. There are concerns about senior players who failed to make runs when it mattered and scored only when they were inconsequential. While a lack of competition for berths has led to complacency, selectors also seem to think a few are taking their spots for granted. Kanitkar, a former India player and Ranji Trophy captain with Rajasthan, was in charge of the side for three seasons and guided the team to Vijay Hazare and Deodhar Trophy titles in 2017.

Brief scores

Group A: In Mulapadu: Nagaland 118 in 19.4 ovs (Aditya 64; S Bhati 4/14) lost to Delhi 119/3 in 12.3 ovs (H Dalal 81); Kerala 176/6 in 20 ovs lost to Jharkhand 180/3 in 19.1 ovs (A Singh 72, S Tiwary 50 n.o); Andhra 252/4 in 20 ovs (A Hebbar 71, M Pranith 71, R Bhui 59 n.o; Y Singh 3/40) bt Manipur 161/5 in 20 ovs (M Raghav 65; Swaroop 3/26).

Group B: In Surat: Tamil Nadu 213/2 in 20 ovs (M Vijay 107, W Sundar 53) bt Meghalaya 121/4 in 20 ovs.

Group D: In Cuttack: Karnataka 138/9 in 20 ovs (A Chaprana 3/29, AR Mishra 3/26) bt Haryana 124 in 19.1 ovs (SP Kumar 63; M Prasidh 3/25, S Gopal 3/16); Odisha 108/9 in 20 ovs (I Porel 3/19) lost to Bengal 111/2 in 12.4 ovs (W Saha 52).

Group E: In New Delhi: Hyderabad 57/2 in 4.5 ovs vs Team Uttarakhand (No result); Services 67/2 in 11 ovs vs Team Pondicherry (No result).