On a deteriorating Chennai surface that offered square turn and uneven bounce, Paul stood up to Uttarakhand’s attack scoring 136 off 279 balls, which was the highlight of TN’s 313 in response to Uttarakhand’s 134.
Even amid batting collapses in the previous Ranji season, when TN failed to qualify for the knockouts, Paul had stood out with the bat and has now grown to become one of their main batters – with or without B Sai Sudharsan. Since his first-class debut in 2019, Paul has piled up 2540 runs in 35 games at an average of just under 55.
More specifically, since December 2022 (the start of the 2022-23 Ranji season), Paul has averaged 56.91 in 51 first-class innings. Globally, only Sonal Dinusha, Dhruv Jurel, Yash Rathod and Leus du Plooy, have a better first-class average than Paul during this period for a minimum of 50 innings.
Paul has always been good against spin and has improved markedly against pace following an exposure trip to the UK in 2024. Before the start of the 2026-27 Ranji season, Paul and the rest of the TN batters trained early in the morning at Chepauk, simulating the swinging conditions they will face, especially away from home.
With rains lashing Chennai in the past week, even the Chepauk conditions felt like away conditions, but Paul negotiated two new balls calmly.
“The UK trip definitely helped me tighten my game against the seamers,” Paul said after the close of play on Monday. I got an idea of how to construct my innings. During the camp [in Chennai] Yomi [coach Yo Mahesh] anna gave us a lot of scenarios and challenges.”
“There have been phases where I have been desperate and felt like I was left out. But again, I think it’s part of the journey,” Paul said. “I’m well aware of what needs to be done [to get back to the India A team]. Making Tamil Nadu qualify [for knockouts] will help me get back into the India A set-up again.”
It certainly won’t be easy, with the competition for spots heating up even further. Paul also understands that he needs to score daddy-hundreds to force his way back.
“If you see my last three games in first-class [cricket], it wasn’t the bowlers who were getting me out,” Paul said. “It was that one rash shot coming out, which got me out. So, I was very assured in my head that I am not going to give up my wicket today. Everything I am going to play to the merit of the ball.”
“I have been working on my defence a lot for the past couple of years,” Paul said. “Because deep down I know that I have the shots. But in this format, time is your friend.”
Paul has also been working closely with B Aparajith, the former TN and Kerala allrounder, who is not featuring in domestic cricket this season, to fine-tune his skills.
“I’ve been having a lot of chats with Apar anna – even about my white-ball game,” Paul said. “I worked with him even before the TNPL too on being relaxed under pressure and my trainer Dinesh Sathasivam, with whom I have worked with since Under-19 days, has pushed me further this season.”
TN’s run machine continues to chug along, with a few tweaks here and there.
Deivarayan Muthu is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo
Leave a Reply