INDORE, March 19: Tamil Nadu have many a things to prove. Their unceremonial ouster from the Ranji Trophy Super League has made them a bit distressful but they are keen to compensate for the loss by emerging superior in the Wills Trophy one-day cricket tournament this time.TN's first match against the hosts Madhya Pradesh offers them a bright change to salvage the lost pride, says skipper Robin Singh. Beaming with a confidence, he said after the nets here at Usha Raje Trust ground, ``We are one of the best one-day sides in the country and are raring to go''.
Leading from the front will be Robin himself. An all-rounder of world repute, the skipper finds his boys well-knit together. Madhya Pradesh, on the other hand, are a depleted side now. They are still to recover from their stunning performance in the Ranji Super League tie against Haryana, which cost them a quarter-final berth. In a bid to revamp the team, some changes have been made. Left-arm spinner Sunil Lahore is out, while wicket-keeper batsmanCP Sahu is in. The regular wicket-keeper Kirti Patel would not get to play. The hurricane left-hand bat Amay Khurasia promises a good show. Narendra Hirwani's leg-spin, would help MP only if he is 100 per cent fit tomorrow morning. The absence of offie Rajesh Chauhan would benefit TN.
In all, the picture is more gloomy for MP skipper Chandrakant Pandit, who hopes his boys would learn from the past mistakes, change their attitude and bounce back.
Teams (from):
Madhya Pradesh: C S Pandit (captain), J P Yadav, C P Sahu, Amay Khurasia, Abbas Ali, Nikhil Patwardhan, P Dwivedi, Raja Ali, Devendra Bundela, H S Sodhi, Manish Majithia, Vipin Acharya, Kirti Patel and Narendra Hirwani.
Tamil Nadu: Robin Singh (captain), W V Raman, S Ramesh, S Sarath, S Sriram, Hemang Badani, Reuben Paul, Dinakar Vasu, L Shivaramakrishnan, S Mahesh, T Kumaran, Tanveer Jabbar, C Vasanthkumar and V Sarvanan.Umpires: H S Sekhon and Umesh Kumar (both Patiala).
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
