Pradosh makes his mark on homecoming

On a greenish surface here at the KIIT Stadium that offered seam movement through Thursday morning, Tamil Nadu’s Pradosh Ranjan Paul (78, 100b, 12×4) found himself navigating both testing conditions and a deeply personal occasion — his first professional appearance at his birthplace in a seven-year First Class career.

Born in Bhubaneswar, Pradosh moved to Tamil Nadu “around 15 years ago” and has since built his career representing the State across formats. Remarkably, this Ranji fixture marked his first game in Odisha.

“Out of all these years, this is the first time I’m playing in Odisha. Obviously, performing in front of my relatives — they knew I had a match here and most of them came to watch — was quite special.

“It was quite challenging when I went in. But my mindset was to enjoy and live in the present. I was not thinking much about what was going to happen. I was just trying to play it as straight as possible,” he said after the first day’s play of the Elite Group A match against Odisha.

While it was an assured innings, Pradosh admitted disappointment at not converting it into something bigger — a theme he had been candid about pre-season. “When you get your scores, try to make it big. You never know what’s going to happen next innings,” said the 25-year-old.

He also spoke with optimism about Tamil Nadu’s future. “As a team, we are definitely in the transition phase. This will take time — maybe a year or two. But this team has immense talent and will start doing well”.