Seam spells trouble for Tamil Nadu as the team’s Ranji campaign starts off on the wrong foot

When the Ranji Trophy schedule for the 2025-26 season was introduced, there was optimism within the Tamil Nadu camp. The staff had 4 of its seven league fixtures at residence and determined to play all 4 at Coimbatore, which had change into a fortress within the final two years. Enjoying towards a few of the group’s difficult outfits in its yard ought to have given TN a definite benefit.

As a substitute, three matches into the marketing campaign, TN’s hopes of qualification are already hanging by a thread. Worryingly, it misplaced by an innings to Jharkhand and scraped to a draw towards defending champion Vidarbha, garnering a solitary level within the two residence contests.

A serious concern that resurfaced was the batters’ technical competence whereas dealing with seam bowling. The gamers have struggled when there was seam or swing help for the medium-pacers.

This 12 months, nonetheless, the pattern of batters getting bowled to seemingly innocuous deliveries on the stump line factors to a deeper malaise. Out of the 39 dismissals, frontline batters have been castled 13 instances.

The TN seamers, too, have seemed listless and lacked self-discipline. Each these issues hint again to the spin-friendly pitches on supply within the TNCA first-division league.

“In league matches, the seamers bowl just some overs on surfaces that are spin-friendly. In case you don’t bowl extra overs, you’ll be able to’t get the rhythm of bowling the precise lengths and instantly anticipate them to do it right here,” mentioned TN head coach Senthilnathan.

“The opponents’ pacers have been constantly working within the channel exterior the off-stump or focusing on the stumps on the proper lengths, which we weren’t in a position to do. When Trilok Nag bowled in the precise space in a single spell, he bought three wickets, however couldn’t do it constantly,” he added.

With simply 4 factors in its kitty, TN has virtually been pushed right into a scenario the place it has to win the remaining 4 video games outright to provide itself any likelihood of progressing past the group stage.