Idea is to improve red-ball show: TNCA secretary

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) decided to make the prestigious First Division a three-day affair – for the first time since 2019 – in a bid to improve the state team’s Ranji Trophy show, said its secretary RS Ramasaamy.

“The idea is to improve our red-ball performances. Our boys are always on one-day mode. In white-ball cricket, we are undisputedly among the best in the country. In order to revive our red-ball cricket, we have brought back the longer format (referring to matches lasting a maximum of three days),” Ramasaamy told this newspaper on Saturday.

“We wanted the boys (batters) to stay for long in the middle, so there are no over restrictions in place. Teams cannot call off a match before the last hour on the third and final day. We have requested the teams to prepare sporting pitches. All these things are being done to improve our performances in the Ranji Trophy. I think that the changes will have some effect on our performances,” added Ramasaamy.

Did the TNCA consider making the top-division a four-day affair? “We did think about it. We did not have the window this season to conduct 11 four-day matches [in the round-robin stage]. The only option was to separate the teams into the two pools and make each team play five [first-round] matches. In that case, not every team will play against the rest. So, we decided to go ahead with three-day matches for now,” explained Ramasaamy.

Asked if the state body plans to switch to four-day matches in the near future, Ramasaamy replied: “We cannot tell now. We will have to wait and see.”