It was a team effort: Coach Kanitkar

Having guided Tamil Nadu to the Ranji Trophy knockout stage, the Maharashtra cricketer said he was happy that he had achieved his first target but there were still miles to go. “It was a tremendous  effort and I would say it was basically team effort. I don’t want to single out anyone for this effort and that is not  our practice too,” said  the coach. 

“In the team, we don’t praise or blame individuals. It is something that I have believed in and we just take credit for the team,” says Kanitkar, who was appointed TN coach at the beginning of the season and his first three months with the team have been basically in the north (of India) in  Dehradun for the practice sessions and later in Dharamsala, Lahli (Rohtak), Nagpur, Belagavi and Bilaspur. 

Kanitkar said the neutral venue concept was not a problem at all as he had kept brief notes on the local information, weather inputs etc. “The training at Dehradun also helped and all credit to the team and also the newcomers who jelled well into the team,” he said. 

He said the tougher test for TN would be in the quarter-fials (venue, opponents not decided). 

“We got good knocks from almost everyone. Indrajith got a hundred and a few other knocks, which should have been converted into hundreds. Abhinav, Gandhi and Karthik  too chipped in,” said Kanitkar.