Struggling Start Puts Tamil Nadu on the Backfoot in Ranji Trophy Campaign

When the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy schedule was released, there was a wave of optimism within the Tamil Nadu camp. The team had the advantage of playing four of its seven league matches at home and chose to host all its games in Coimbatore, a venue that had turned into a stronghold over the past two years. Importantly, this allowed them to face some of the tougher group opponents on familiar turf.

However, three matches into the season, Tamil Nadu’s hopes of advancing are precarious. Alarmingly, in their two home games, they suffered an innings defeat against Jharkhand and eked out a draw against the defending champions, Vidarbha, managing just a single point from these encounters.

A recurring issue has been the batsmen’s technical struggles against seam bowling. They have consistently faltered when the conditions favor seam or swing. Of particular concern this year is the pattern of batsmen being bowled by seemingly harmless deliveries targeting the stumps. Out of 39 wickets lost, front-line batters have been bowled 13 times.

The seam bowlers have also appeared ineffective and undisciplined, issues stemming from the spin-friendly nature of pitches in the TNCA first division league.

“In league matches, seamers only bowl a few overs on spin-friendly surfaces,” noted head coach Senthilnathan. “Without bowling more overs, they can’t develop the rhythm for consistent length, and it’s unrealistic to expect them to do so suddenly in these matches.”

“The opponents’ pacers consistently bowled in the channel outside the off-stump or targeted the stumps accurately, which we struggled to replicate. When Trilok Nag hit the right areas in one spell, he took three wickets but couldn’t maintain it,” he added.

With only four points, R. Sai Kishore’s team is now nearly in a must-win situation for the remaining four games to keep their hopes of advancing past the group stage alive.

Published on Nov 05, 2025.