Tamil Nadu opener Vimal Khumar made his Ranji Trophy debut in the 2023-24 season, when he had meagre returns from five innings. Subsequently, he didn’t feature even in a single game in the 2024-25 season.
But this year, being the top run-getter in the TNCA first division league with 646 runs from seven innings at an average of 92.29 and with two centuries in the ongoing All India Buchi Babu invitational cricket tournament, he’s staking his claim to the opener’s slot for the upcoming Ranji season.
“Not focusing too much on it. I just want to do my part well. I want to get runs and make sure my team is winning. So, I’m just trying to focus more on that. And the by-product is helping me as well.
“But definitely, very optimistic that I will get a chance to do well in the Ranji Trophy as well,” he said after scoring a 215-ball 112 (12×4, 1×6) against Jammu & Kashmir on day one of the Buchi Babu semifinal at the CSK High Performance Centre here on Sunday.
The 22-year-old said that he worked extensively on his batting for around four months during the pre-season.
“I have worked a lot with Chemplast (owning company of his first division team Jolly Rovers) and B. Indrajith (his Tamil Nadu teammate and Rovers captain).
“So, every day, they used to give me proper side-armers (throwdowns) and very good wickets with moisture (to practise on) at our home ground (IIT-Chemplast), so that I’m able to prepare well. And Indrajith has helped me a lot with getting into good batting positions and playing spin bowling in general,” he said.
A striking aspect of Vimal’s innings on Sunday was his use of feet to the spinners.
He charged at off-spinner Kawalpreet Singh to loft a full toss for four to deep midwicket, at left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq to loft a four straight down the ground and a six to cow corner, and at left-arm spinner Vanshaj Sharma for an inside-out four to the cover boundary.
He was equally good off the backfoot, too, as he employed the cut and pull to spin for three fours.
His accumulation of runs in the spin-dominated first division league is also indicative of the work he’s put in to play spin effectively.
Published on Aug 31, 2025
