CHENNAI: A depleted Tamil Nadu takes on Chhattisgarh in the third-round match of the Ranji Trophy scheduled to begin at Sri Ramakrishna College grounds, Coimbatore on Saturday.

The hosts will continue to be without the services of their captain Sai Kishore who is part of the Emerging Teams Asia Cup. Star all-rounder Washington Sundar is now part of the India team that is playing a Test series against New Zealand. Ace batters Sai Sudharsan and B Indrajith will also be unavailable as the duo is part of the India A team on its tour of Australia.

In their absence, the likes of Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Shahrukh Khan and Vijay Shankar have to step up and help the hosts post a challenging total.

“We are aware of the challenges ahead of us. A couple of players are not there as they are on national duty. Still, we have a good lineup and will go about the task in a professional way,” Pradosh Ranjan Paul told TNIE.

“A couple of young players from the State Under-23 team have joined as replacements. We have still not decided the playing XI and we will take a call before the game,” added Pradosh.