…Not a word from current TN stalwarts

Last year, former cricketers as well as present players from Tamil Nadu went hammer and tongs and questioned why Tamil Nadu needed a coach from Mumbai. Now, after their Ranji ouster at an earlier step…

Jammu and Kashmir may have missed qualifying for the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy, but their performances have been most heartening indeed. India has so many players who are good enough to play for their state teams, but because there is already another player occupying the slot, they can’t get a game. They then move to another state and make a contribution in raising the confidence and competitiveness of those teams. Sandeep Patil and Chandrakant Pandit are two prime examples of players who moved from Mumbai to other states and helped those states to start performing better. Jalaj Saxena is another, who is currently helping Kerala, who are in the semis now.

Even as coaches, Patil and Pandit brought in the winning mentality in the teams they coached and made them competing teams.  

No scapegoat this time

Last year, when Tamil Nadu lost the semis to Mumbai, the then coach in the media conference after the game revealed that the captain after winning the toss had taken the opposite decision to what had been decided by the team management. The captain also was gracious and candid enough to accept that. What followed was beyond belief. Former cricketers as well as current stalwarts from Tamil Nadu went hammer and tongs at the coach and almost all of them without exception questioned why Tamil Nadu needed a coach from Mumbai. It was a classic case of finding a scapegoat instead of looking at the real reason why Tamil Nadu were unable to put it across the eventful champions, Mumbai. Well, this year Tamil Nadu have been ousted at an earlier step, the quarter-finals. The coach is their own favourite son, Laxmipathy Balaji. 

As of now, we haven’t heard a word from current stalwarts from Tamil Nadu about not being able to go further. 

Missing the winning edge

So, was it only the perennial angst in the South against Mumbai that brought about the condemnation about the coach from Mumbai? Tamil Nadu have always had some of the finest players in the game but like South Africa at the international level, when it comes to the crunch, they are found wanting in the Ranji Trophy. Yes, they have won the Ranji Trophy title a couple of times, but without a question they should have won far more times with the talent that is there.  On the other hand, the franchise team from Chennai has won the IPL five times and got in the final an equal number of times with a non-Chennai born player as their captain. 

Once the acceptance that there are areas to improve comes in, especially as far as temperament is concerned and work done towards that, then Tamil Nadu can go on to win more Ranji titles. Just being engineering graduates doesn’t guarantee titles. You got to go through the school and college of cricket’s hard knocks to get the temperament to win trophies.

Professional Management Group

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!