Tamil Nadu will bounce back, feels Tinu Yohanan

CHENNAI: The 2017-2018 Ranji Trophy season witnessed contrasting fortunes for two teams from down South - Tamil Nadu and Kerala. While TN, two-time Ranji champions, crashed out of the competition without posting a single win, Kerala stormed into the knockout phase of the country's domestic competition for the first time registering five victories out of six matches.
Former India pacer Tinu Yohanan has seen the meteoric rise of Kerala, a football-crazy state, on the cricket field as well as the inconsistent performances of Tamil Nadu cricket at close quarters.
Yohanan, who started off his cricketing career in Chennai and spent 17 years in the city representing various top clubs such as Jolly Rovers and Alwarpet CC, has been the assistant coach of the Kerala Ranji side for the last four years.
The 38-year-old believes Kerala cricket is reaping the benefits of the initiatives taken by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) to develop the sport at the grassroots level about 15 years ago. And with an inspirational coach in Dav Whatmore, Kerala cricketers have made heads turn around.
"We have great infrastructure here and the young players have started to understand that it's not just football, they can also a make professional career in cricket. Until a few years back the awareness was lacking and KCA did a great job by taking the game to all districts and remote areas. Now each and every district in Kerala has its own ground with all facilities and can host matches regularly," Tinu, who left Chennai to join Kerala Ranji side in 2014, told TOI on Wednesday.
Yohanan, who has played three Tests and ODIs respectively for India, said "managing the players" on every aspect is one of the key elements to showcasing consistency as the competitiveness at the Ranji Trophy level has increased over the last decade.
"The level of competition has gone up and each team is coming into the tournament with great preparation. Kerala had a month-long conditioning camp at Sri Ramachandra Medical College and that turned out be pretty useful. Moreover, players should understand their body well. You are bound to get injured but best players manage it well. You must follow a strict regime to sustain at this level," Tinu added.
On the other hand, Tamil Nadu, who lost to Mumbai in the semifinals last year, badly missed the services of two of their frontline pacers - T Natarajan and Aswin Crist - who were ruled out with injuries. Even as experienced pacers V Yo Mahesh and M Mohammed made a return in the middle of the season, the workload fell mostly on the shoulders of young pacer K Vignesh, who claimed 24 wickets in six matches.
According to Tinu, who is also the head coach of the Ruby Trichy Warriors in the TNPL, TN is going through a "transition phase" and that they will "bounce back" in style.
"I've played in Chennai and know what kind cricket culture the state has. In TNPL, I saw some great quality bowlers and batsmen playing in the league. If you talk about talent, there is not dearth in the state. I don't think there any reason to panic. Don't forget they played the semis last year… I think Tamil Nadu is going through a transition phase and it may take some time before they bounce back in style. It happens to every team be a state side or an international one. I'm sure they'll make a grand comeback soon," Tinu explained.