Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar criticized Tamil Nadu’s inability to consistently secure domestic titles following their quarter-final exit in the ongoing 2024/25 Ranji Trophy. Despite high expectations, Tamil Nadu stumbled once again, losing to Vidarbha by 198 runs in the final eight.
The state has yet to win its first Ranji Trophy title since 1988, despite having numerous talented cricketers. Like in many previous seasons, Tamil Nadu finished atop their group but failed to perform in the knockout stage. Commenting on Tamil Nadu’s recurring disappointments in his ‘Mid Day’ column, Gavaskar wrote:
“Just being engineering graduates doesn’t guarantee titles. You got to go through the school and college of cricket’s hard knocks to get the temperament to win trophies. Yes, they have won the Ranji Trophy title a couple of times, but without a question they should have won far more times with the talent that is there.”
The legendary opener also highlighted how Tamil Nadu’s IPL team, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has maintained consistent success, even though it is captained by a player not originally from Chennai (MS Dhoni).
“On the other hand, the franchise team from Chennai has won the IPL five times and got in the final an equal number of times with a non-Chennai born player as their captain.”
”Once the acceptance that there are areas to improve comes in, especially as far as temperament is concerned and work done towards that, then Tamil Nadu can go on to win more Ranji titles,” added Gavaskar.
“We haven’t heard anything from the current key players from Tamil Nadu”- Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar criticized former Tamil Nadu players who had condemned ex-Mumbai batter Sulakshan Kulkarni after Tamil Nadu’s semifinal loss to Mumbai in last year’s Ranji Trophy. Kulkarni, the Tamil Nadu head coach, had blamed captain Sai Kishore for making a wrong toss call in the match [via ESPN Cricinfo]:
“I always speak straightforward – we lost the match at 9 o’clock on day one. The moment I saw the wicket I exactly knew what we were going to get. Everything was set, we won the toss, as a coach, as a Mumbaikar, I know the conditions well. We should have bowled but the captain had some different instinct.”
Although Kulkarni was replaced by Tamil Nadu’s own Lakshmipathy Balaji as head coach for this season, the outcome remained unchanged. Gavaskar made sure to highlight this by stating:
“Well, this year Tamil Nadu have been ousted at an earlier step, the quarter-finals. The coach is their own favourite son, Laxmipathy Balaji. As of now, we haven’t heard a word from current stalwarts from Tamil Nadu about not being able to go further.”
He further added:
“Was it only the perennial angst in the South against Mumbai that brought about the condemnation about the coach from Mumbai? Tamil Nadu have always had some of the finest players in the game but like South Africa at the international level, when it comes to the crunch, they are found wanting in the Ranji Trophy.”
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