TNCA First Division League 2022-23

Sai Sudarshan stands tall in First Division Cricket, Ajith Ram stakes claim with consistent performance with the ball

Fast bowlers in short supply, Young batters fail to show consistency

Ahead of the new first division season, TNCA made a few significant changes. The top four playing the semi finals and the winners moving into the final was done away with. In an effort to get the players prepare themselves better for Ranji cricket, the two day format that existed for a few years was changed to the earlier three day matches. 5 points were on offer for first innings lead but only 6 points for an outright win. In fact, the outgoing Secretary of the TNCA RS Ramaswamy told this writer that he was keen on a four day format but that suggestion did not go through this season. There were to be six rounds of matches at the start of the season with a break of two days between each of the matches. This was to give the selectors a fair view of the players on offer. The first set of matches ended mid September with the players getting into the inter state T20 matches (TN failed to qualify for the knock outs though Coach Venkatramana expressed happiness at the performance and told this writer last evening that it was just one match that made the difference). Here is a look at how things have progressed after the first phase of the first division matches this season.

Sai Stands alone at the top

Jolly Rovers’ opener Sai Sudarshan was the stand out batsman in the first division not just with the amount of runs he has amassed but with the ease with which he taken on the opposition bowlers and dominated them. End of August, he scored a century before lunch in a 185 run opening stand with captain Kaushik Gandhi. When Jolly Rovers needed just under a hundred to beat MRC A, he dominated the chase and showed the form he was in. He then followed up with a double century stand with his captain with both scoring centuries again.  Sai ended the first phase of the league season with his third hundred. He stood tall far and above any other (local) batsman in the first division. His performance is sure to have sealed a place in the TN team in all the three formats (unfortunately he could not translate his rich vein of form into runs at the T20 level for TN last month). 

Chief of the Jolly Rovers cricket team and former India cricketer Bharath Reddy is pleased with his performance “Sai has done exceptionally well. His consistency augurs well for the state in the future.”

Kavin starts with a big double hundred

Opener R Kavin began the season with a big double hundred for Grand Slam. He continued his great start with consistent scores. Former TN and Goa all-rounder DJ Gokulakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/03/gokulakrishnan-j.html) is the mentor of Grand Slam. He is all praise for Kavin in the way he has played “By batting for over 130overs, he has shown that he has got unperturbed temperament. He has performed consistently for us and has stood out along with Sai Sudarshan amongst the batsmen in this phase in first division.”

PC Prakash, the newly appointed Head of the TNCA Academy, who has seen Kavin closely in age group cricket over the last few years, is pleased with the way he has begun to convert the starts into big knocks “He is extremely talented but failed to convert the 50s into bigger knocks earlier. Now he has realized the importance of big scores and his consistent performance over the last month should give him a lot of confidence.”

Apart from these two, there has not been great consistency from the younger lot in batting. Many centuries have been scored in these six rounds but consistent performance has been lacking.

Lack of depth in Bowling

Bowling has been a weak point for TN in the years gone by with the team lacking consistency in bowling out opposition twice. And this came to the forefront once again at the start of this season. There are plenty of left arm spinners on view but quality off spinners and leg spinners have been difficult to find as have been the fast bowlers. 

Like Sai Sudarshan in batting, Globe Trotters’s Ajith Ram has been the one stand out player in bowling picking up 42 wickets. His star turn with the ball helped his club to two outright wins. 

S Suresh (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/11/sweety-s-suresh-tn-ranji-finals-captain.html) under whose captaincy TN reached the Ranji twice in successive years is the mentor at Vijay CC. He is not happy with what he has seen on the bowling front “For a few years, the bowlers had got used to a defensive style of bowling based on the two day format. They are taking time to adapt to the requirements of three day cricket. The attacking mindset in bowling has not yet happened in the first round of matches. Some of them have been good in patches but consistency in bowling is what is required.”

He says the odd five wicket hauls won’t work. Bowlers need to be more consistent in taking wickets. “The wicket taking art is unfortunately going away and that is not good news.”

Prakash (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/04/pc-prakash-tn-ranji-1980s.html) is keen to see a fully fit Aswin Crist make a comeback into the TN team “He is a genuine fast bowler who has to walk into the state side if he is fully fit. When fast bowlers are in short supply, a fit again Crist will make a big difference to the squad especially if we are going to play Ranji cricket on non-spinner friendly wickets across the country.”

The All- rounder spot

With Vijay Sankar out through injury, J Kousik of Vijay CC has it in to take the all-rounder’s spot “Every time he bowled he provided a break through. In batting, he could anchor or hit and hence is one for all situations” says Seasoned umpire D Dharmaseelan, who umpired all the rounds in this first phase.

Not Graduating to the next level

Three left handers Vishal Vaidhya, Vimal Khumar and Anchit D had held big potential as teenagers. At the age group level, they were seen as those who had it in them to make it big at the state level. Unfortunately all three have not done enough to convert their potential into runs at the first division.

Anchit scored a century at the start of the season but he had already decided to head to Australia for higher studies putting an end to his serious playing interests. Vimal Khumar has been handed the responsibility of captaincy of Alwarpet but has failed quite badly with the bat while the team is also languishing near the bottom of the table. 

For a decade, Vishal Vaidhya had been under the watchful eyes of late VB Chandrasekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html). He was quite successful at the age group level but has somehow not been able get the big runs to catch the eye of the selectors. Earlier this year, in the final rounds of league matches of the 2021-22 season, captaining UFCC he was in scintillating form, scoring two hundreds and missing out narrowly on two more.  Just when one thought he was finally making it count, he has had a miserable first phase this new season though he did come up with a big century in the final match of the first phase. And then made quite a few good scores in the first division one day tourney that followed. He will have to make bigger scores and more consistently when it really counts to catch the eyes of the selectors, again. This section will watch out for him in the 2nd phase of the league for that could be an important set of matches as age is not on his side.

Prakash has watched both Vimal and Vishal very closely for almost a decade and is puzzled at their inability to show consistency “Vishal had a great end to the league last season and one expected him to continue that form into the new season. Even if under pressure, batting at No. 4 is a great opportunity for him to showcase his skills but his lack of consistency is puzzling. Vimal definitely had it in him to take his game to the next level but he too is struggling like Vishal. Others like Lokeshwar, Swaminathan and Radhakrishnan too have failed to graduate into the next level in cricket and have not been able to translate potential into performance.”

Three Day Format

While square turners have meant a quick end to some of the matches, there have been several matches where teams have batted past the 100 overs mark. The three day format has helped in testing the temperament of the batsmen but only a couple of them have been able to show consistency. This format should have helped bowlers bowl to attacking fields unlike the previous couple of years. But except on square turners the attacking mindset has been absent.

Bharath Reddy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html) while applauding the decision to move into a three day format is not pleased with the decision to take away the Semi Finals and Final “It will make for one sided contests with teams going for the kill in certain matches with ‘square turners’ or ‘green tops’.”

This was on view when India Pistons bowled out MCC on the first morning of the match (State Selector S Vasudevan was seen fuming after watching the entire first session at India Pistons) and MRF bowled out UFCC almost twice on the first day. 

However, Gokulakrishnan has a different view on this “Teams have eleven matches to showcase their skills. It is fine for the top team after 11 matches to be crowned as the champion.” Any way that had been the model for many decades.

The Disappointments

From a Ranji selection point of view, the first six rounds have not thrown up any special off spinner, leg spinner or fast bowler. Despite the opportunity for each of the batsmen to play really long innings (especially on non turning tracks), the selectors may not have had new names challenging the existing lot. And both these have proved to be disappointing at the end of the first phase of the first division this season. In Ajith Ram’s case, with Sai Kishore and M Siddharth as the lead spinners, it may be difficult for the selectors to get him in as the third left arm spinner despite his extraordinary performances in the first phase of the league season.

Those to watch out for

While some of the teenagers of yesteryears have failed to graduate to the next level, there are a few who are beginning to show glimpses of their talent. Globe Trotters’ Ajitesh (he has been selected for the T20s) is one who certainly holds potential. Dharmaseelan sees him as a special talent “He is one batsman who has it in him to go high up in cricket. He has all the shots in the book especially in the shorter version.”

Sonu Yadav is very talented, has got runs and bowled well. He is really quick as a bowler and that the state should look to groom him for the future. Sanjay Yadav has got ‘attacking’ runs and taken wickets.

TN U19 quick MRC A’s V.P. Dhiran is a fast bowling talent that can be nurtured. The team’s coach Guru Kedarnath, who is also the state U25 asst coach, says that it is a challenge for all fast bowlers in the city in the first division league as they come up on slow wickets “It would be worth the while to see how he performs on quicker wickets when he goes around the country for the U19 matches.”

Former RBI opener S Ramesh is now the mentor at Nelson, a team that has a surprise presence in the top 4 at the end of phase 1. He says that Mohit Hariharan is one to be watched out for. He has  been impressive scoring over 400runs.

Among other batsmen, Guru Raghavendra and Mohammed Ali showed glimpses of what they are capable with big hundreds and it would be interesting to see how they perform in the second half of the league season.