N Srinivasan spells out 'Mission Ranji'

The performance of the state team at the country's premier domestic competition - Ranji Trophy -may not have been up to the mark, but N Srinivasan, the president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), was hopeful that the upcoming season could see the former champions script a turnaround.
However, Srinivasan minced no words in asking the state players to pull their socks up with the new season just months away. "In spite of outstanding stars in the side and players being extremely committed - for some reason or other - it (the trophy) seems to elude us. Unless you win the Ranji Trophy, I am not going to recognise and say that X or Y represented India (from our state) and played these many games for the country. Winning the trophy should be our aim, and I am sure that would be the approach of the coach and the team in the coming year," Srinivasan said during the TNCA's 86th annual day at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday (June 24).
Srinivasan felt TNCA took the disappointment of not getting a chance to host men's matches in the ICC World Twenty20 earlier this year in its stride. "If we had one men's match the people of Chennai would have been happy. However, whatever matches (women's games) were assigned to us were played in great spirit," he said.
Srinivasan was optimistic about the success of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) which will kick-off from the final week of August. "We have had a fantastic response from the broadcasters, and from our franchises. I am sure the tournament will take cricket to each and every corner of the state and be a big success," he said.
The gathering saw Prabhakar Rao, the TNCA vice-president, who called time on his administrative career, being assigned the task of giving away the awards. Srinivasan heaped praise on Rao for his outstanding service to the association. "If there is one name synonymous with TNCA right from the time I was a young person it has to be U Prabhakar Rao. He brought laurels to our association as a player, as an able administrator for so many years," said Srinivasan. The occasion also saw S Raghavan being named the vice chairman of TNPL.
The TNCA Annual General Meeting which will be held on Saturday will elect three new vice-presidents. K Murali, G Srinivasan and G Bhaskaran will be the new vice-presidents of TNCA, coming in place of U Prabhakar Rao, Raghavan and Albert