TNPL 2016: Chepauk Super Gillies unlikely to change team combination

Chepauk Super Gillies coach Hemang Badani and captain Rajagopal Sathish addressed the media on Saturday, August 27, ahead of their India Cements TN Premier League game against Karaikudi Kaalai, at NPR College Ground, Natham, Dindigul.

How difficult is it to get the right combination after the loss in the first game?

Sathish: It was only the first game. We did have a combination but things didn’t happen as we had planned. It is not that we don’t have the confidence in our players (who played in the first match). We just have to concentrate on playing good cricket.

Badani: There is not much to change in the combination as he (Sathish) said rightly it was only the first game. It is a long tournament and you can’t really tinker much after one game. We are most likely to stick with the same side or a side with minimum change.

As the tournament progresses and as we see what happens in the future games, what sort of match facilities are available and what pitches we play on, we can then change the team as we go by. For now, there is not much to really worry about. One game; it happens.

Is there any particular area where you think you need to improve as a team?

Badani: We would probably have to bat a little better, take a little more time and play cautiously. I thought we lost too many in the middle (against Albert Tuti Patriots) — about four wickets scoring just one run. In a short format, that is not the right way to go about the game.

But again, maybe nerves, many haven’t played this format and lot of them haven’t played in front of such an atmosphere, under lights. We just need to give it some time.

Do you see a pattern in the wickets prepared in Chennai and in Dindigul?

Sathish: The match played here (in Dindigul) had a score of 160 and it was the same with the match in Chepauk as well. Wickets in Chennai might be a bit on the slower side, but I would say it suits the batsmen a little more.

Three matches are over in the India Cements TN Premier League. Any team, in particular, that has surprised you in the tournament till now?

Badani: Not really in the sense that they are all reasonably balanced sides and all sides have got good players.

If you look at it, there is a set pattern with Dinesh Karthik making a difference in the first match, (Baba) Aparajith doing the same in the second game, then in the third game there was Nilesh Subramanian who batted beautifully to score 49 runs in yesterday’s match (against Lyca Kovai Kings).

If he hadn’t batted as well, even 127 would have been a difficult a target to score. We have seen a Super Over in the tournament this early; can’t ask for more!