Hemang Badani on why Tamil Nadu players don't make it big

[Cricket Tragic]

If you look at the players, there have been a lot of players who have gone on to play for India. A couple of them have gone to do that for a little longer than most of us. The most prominent ones that I can think of, of some repute, are Krishnamachari Srikanth, S. Venkataraghavan and Robin Singh. Robin played about 130 ODIs. Srikanth played about 100+ ODIs and 40-odd Test matches. Venkataraghavan sir has played about 50 Test matches. Apart from that, we have seen V.B. Chandrashekhar to T. Srinivasan to W.V. Raman to myself to Badri to Karthik, none of us has really made a big mark at that level. Yes, we showed promise. Yes, we have had times of genius or good run. Someone had a hundred against Australia, in a Test match. But, none of us has been able to play for 100 Tests or say, 300 ODIs. i think the reason is that one tends to be very satisfied too soon. We seem to be happy that we have donned the Indian cap and think that we are happy with becoming an Indian player. We tend to get a bit soft. In other states, that is not the case. A lot of what I have seen is that it is not drilled into our heads. I've played at the highest level, but haven't played for long. What it takes to sustain it is seen in players like Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble from Karnataka. I can mention some more from Mumbai- Sunil Gavaskar to (Sachin) Tendulkar to (Dilip) Vengsarkar, and the list goes on. But, we don't have anyone from TN who has gone on to play that much. They know what it takes to sustain them there and they know what it takes to keep continuing to do that. The problem is, we really work hard to get to the mark and get into the national side, and then we have a couple of brilliant innings that make you think that we have found someone great, who is exciting and would serve us for 10 years But, in another one year, he fizzles out. There is enough talent in the state. Dinesh Kartik is talented. So is L. Balaji. Yes, they have done reasonably well for the national side. But, none of them are superstars. We never produced a Rahul Dravid or a Kumble or a Sachin Tendulkar or a Virender Sehwag or a Saurav Ganguly or an Azharuddin or a VVS Laxman. We just get satisfied too early and soften ourselves. One you get there, work has to be done day in and day out. You have to work harder there, is what I have learnt now. You can't take your leg off the pedal.

From Couch Talk

[NareshK]

I think the pitches they prepare in Chennai are too slow and not up to international standards. Also because of the heat in Chennai, the pitch tends to break up very fast and assists spinners more than seamers. I have noticed batsmen from Chennai typically find it very tough to play good quality pace bowlers. They should try changing the nature of pitches or play in places which are cooler like Ooty, Kodaikanal where conditions could assist seamers and batsmen could also adapt. Just a suggestion.

[BeautifulGame]

Its because our state selectors think Tamil nadu means only restricted to chennai.We hardly find players from other parts of tamil nadu in our state team often. Also its a disgrace that a state as big as tamil nadu has just one international stadium.FFS Jarkand has 2 international stadiums now.We dont even have a domestic stadium apart from chepauk.

[Dumbbells]

Becoz u guys are not good enuf. All the sambars are just pathetic.

[yoda]

Tamil Nadu players don't make it big cause they don't get a long rope like Rohit gets for example. They get dumped the instance they have a few bad games. Look at Mukund, out before he could blink.

[jairamesh]

Its because our state selectors think Tamil nadu means only restricted to chennai.We hardly find players from other parts of tamil nadu in our state team often. Also its a disgrace that a state as big as tamil nadu has just one international stadium.FFS Jarkand has 2 international stadiums now.We dont even have a domestic stadium apart from chepauk.

You can't be serious?:omg: Didn't Coimbatore host intl matches?

[Number]

The problem is, we really work hard to get to the mark and get into the national side, and then we have a couple of brilliant innings that make you think that we have found someone great, who is exciting and would serve us for 10 years But, in another one year, he fizzles out. We just get satisfied too early and soften ourselves. One you get there, work has to be done day in and day out. You have to work harder there, is what I have learnt now. You can't take your leg off the pedal.

Same is happening with Ashwin.

[Marut]

Tamil Nadu players don't make it big cause they don't get a long rope like Rohit gets for example. They get dumped the instance they have a few bad games. Look at Mukund' date=' out before he could blink.[/quote'] But but, Rohit is tailunnnted.:haha::haha: Badri and Mukund did not get any chances to prove themselves, they did not make use of the limited chances that came their way though. In the past, players from Mumbai always got the priority for the national team. It has changed a bit, but the power is still very much in the hands of Mumbai, Delhi etc. Players from other states will not get as many chances a player from these sides gets, and will be dumped without giving him a decent run. Srikkanth tried to push a few from TN and CSK in, but the fact that these players did not make big waves shows that Tamil Nadu does not produce many international quality players, they could not cement their places even with Cheeka's backing.

[NareshK]

The worst part is that best of infrastructure, facilities, coaching, support system is in TN and its wasted on players who dont make it to international level. If such kind of funding is there in Punjab, we could have at least seen a few good fast bowlers by now.

[Number]

Mukund will get his chances, he is captaining A team every tour. Sehwag Gambhir in the XI with Vijay(Chennai) on bench there is no place for him. Badri though should have been given more chances. But the way current system is working is, they push players in the ODIs first where Badri couldn't do much and in tests too he didn't look that good.

[BeautifulGame]

You can't be serious?:omg: Didn't Coimbatore host intl matches?

Lol Coimbatore dont even have a domestic stadium.

[cricketpitch]

Badani himself was a good player. He averaged around 34 in ODI's and was a very good fielder but unfortunately did not get too many chances after a few failures. I agree that TN players haven't succeeded that much and probably Badani is right. I hope that Ashwin fall by the wayside even though he has been having a poor run at the moment.

[cricketpitch]

Becoz u guys are not good enuf. All the sambars are just pathetic.

Please don't post racist hate spewing posts here. Can't believe that people like you still exist in this so called educated India.

[jairamesh]

Lol Coimbatore dont even have a domestic stadium.

This is rather pathetic if only international stadium is chepauk and facility is MRF pace academy. rather poor stuff from BCCI and Tamil Nadu cricket board, for a rich state alot talent is being wasted.

[The Outsider]

Even Srini doesn't care about Tamil Nadu, but CSK so why blame the rest of India?

[vvvslaxman]

I have raised this point several times. TN players of past could get away with an excuse of not getting enough chances. But in recent times they were given ample chances to prove themselves. But nobody cashed in on. Either they were talentless hacks or they get found out too soon and they don't really to reinvent themselves. There is no real motivation, goal to achieve bigger things. Ashwin is pretty much going the same way. L Siva was a genuine prospect. He just did not justify his potential. Neighbouring states like Andhra, Karnataka produced far better players.

[Chandan]

Tamil Nadu players don't make it big cause they don't get a long rope like Rohit gets for example. They get dumped the instance they have a few bad games. Look at Mukund' date=' out before he could blink.[/quote'] What about Ashwin?

[The Dark Horse]

Talent is there, I don't know what's going wrong. May be someone with experience inside the system can enlighten. Surely not everyone will get complacent after getting into the team. May be the state is not concentrating on parts other than Chennai, like others say..

[Sandeep99]

The players are talented but are very one dimensional! Dare I say, their world starts and ends in Chennai...

[Sandeep99]

I believe Dinesh Karthik is one player who can serve Indian test cricket for long! But where is he now? Another T20 specialist... Nepotism towards TN was obviously there during Srikanth regime, but chances should have been given to deserving players like Karthik, Mukund rather than hacks like Vijay