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Tamil Nadu have picked left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore as their captain for the Ranji Trophy 2023-24 season. This would be the Gujarat Titans player's first full season as the captain of the state team in India's premier domestic competition.
Pradosh Ranjan Paul will be his deputy in the 15-member team. Paul, a 22-year-old left-handed wicketkeeper-batter, recently scored a century on his India A debut against South Africa A.
The two youngsters' new roles in the team confirm Tamil Nadu's shift towards younger talents to break their 36-year-long trophy drought.
“We are looking to build a team for the future and have got a mix of youth and experience. There are some good players coming through the under-19 and under-23 levels as well, and we want to start the transition process slowly,” U.R. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the selection committee, said.
Baba Indrajith captained the team last season for most of the games. Although he's still in the team, his brother Baba Aparajith has missed out. Batter NS Chaturved, wicketkeeper R Kavin, all-rounder Affan Khader, and bowlers Aswin Crist and Lakshminarayanan Vignesh have also been left out of the team.
Young batters B. Sachin and R. Vimal Khumar are the fresh faces in the team. The selectors will also be glad to see the return of left-arm seamer T Natarajan, who hasn't been able to get a consistent run for the state team since playing the 2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy for India, due to injuries.
Fast bowler Kuldeep Sen, who switched from Madhya Pradesh to Tamil Nadu earlier this year, will miss the first few games of the season due to personal reasons. The team will play its first match against Gujrat on January 5-8.
Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy 2023-24 squad
R. Sai Kishore (c), Pradosh Ranjan Paul (vc), Washington Sundar, Sai Sudharsan, N. Jagadeesan, Baba Indrajith, Vijay Shankar, S. Lokeshwar, S. Ajith Ram, B. Sachin, M. Mohammed, Sandeep Warrier, T. Natarajan, Vimal Khumar and Trilok Nag.
