By Admin 
Pacer Sandeep Warrier expressed his disappointment at sustaining a hamstring injury during the Duleep Trophy last September, as he felt it was an opportune time for him to get back into National reckoning.
“I felt that one or two (good) performances at that time (would have helped), (since) there were a lot of opportunities that were coming up.
“India-A tour of Australia, India tour of Australia, England tour… To be honest, I had extreme expectations or aspirations before last year’s Duleep Trophy. Till the time I played it, I was expecting all the things to happen. But when I got injured, I came to the acceptance that it is not in my control again.
“It just didn’t click for me at that time. My focus now is winning the Ranji Trophy (with Tamil Nadu),” he said at the MRF-Pachaiyappa’s ground here on Thursday.
On Tamil Nadu’s chances in the upcoming Ranji season, he said: “In the past three-four years, I could see how the team has been shaping towards lifting that trophy. I strongly believe that this is the season we are going to lift that trophy.”
For the 34-year-old, who is now back to full fitness, the hamstring injury recurred twice — once during the last Ranji season and again during the TNPL, where he bowled faster than ever before. He frequently breached 140 kph and even clocked speeds as high as 145 kph.
“I feel that I was in great running rhythm during the TNPL. But after getting injured again, I wanted to tweak a bit of my running speed or running rhythm, whatever you may call it.
“I worked with Bala bhai (former India pacer L. Balaji), Thirukumaran (TN bowling coach T. Kumaran), R. Ramkumar (at Jolly Rovers CC, the team he plays for in the TNCA first division league), and A.C. Prathiban — depending on who was available — on my running mechanics or run-up rhythm,” he added.