Looking to get full points, says Aparajith

Having collected only five points from as many matches, the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy finalist has its job cut out in the final part of the round-robin phase. On the eve of the home contest against Railways, Tamil Nadu captain Baba Aparajith said his side would go all out for a win in its sixth fixture of the campaign.

“We obviously want to get a (positive) result. We are looking to pick up full points. We have a good line-up,” Aparajith, who is leading the team in place of India A-bound Vijay Shankar, told reporters.

Sitting last but one on the Elite Group A and B points table, Tamil Nadu is battling relegation right now.

“We have a lot of areas to improve. We need to keep getting better with every match. After the beginning we have had in the current Ranji season, it is necessary to start the game well. We can then build on from there,” added the middle-order batter. Railways will be missing the services of Karn Sharma but Aparajith stressed Tamil Nadu is looking after itself rather than focussing on its opponent.

“We don’t take any team lightly. But, we have to play our own brand of cricket well. More than concentrating on individuals, we are aiming to get some points (on the board),” said the 25-year-old. All 15 players in the squad are fit and available for selection, according to the stand-in skipper.