Tamil Nadu hopes to finish season on a high

CHENNAI: In-form batter Pradosh Ranjan Paul will lead Tamil Nadu in its seventh and final Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match against Saurashtra, which starts on Tuesday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here.

The 22-year-old Pradosh, the deputy to R Sai Kishore in the home victory over Assam, will replace the left-arm spinner, who is suffering from fever, as skipper. Young opener B Sai Sudharsan was named the vice-captain on the eve of the match.

Already out of the knockout qualification race, Tamil Nadu, which sits fifth in the group table with 15 points from six matches, would hope to finish the season on a positive note. “We are not looking at it as the final match. In every match, we are planning to play to our potential. We are not bothered about the results. We want to play as one. Our goal is to do well for Tamil Nadu,” said Pradosh on Monday.

With Sai Kishore unavailable for selection, Manimaran Siddharth, who performed well for the state Under-25 team in the Col. CK Nayudu Trophy recently, has been called up.

Meanwhile, Saurashtra will be keen to finish as the group topper after picking up 26 points from its first six games. The visiting team will be led by India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and will miss the services of experienced campaigner Cheteshwar Pujara and regular skipper Jaydev Unadkat, who have been rested keeping in mind the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia at home.