NEW DELHI: Sometimes, the past can serve as a good pointer to the future. Having scored decisive victories over Tamil Nadu in the last two meetings at the Karnail Singh Stadium, Railways hopes to make it three in a row when their Ranji Trophy Elite Group `A' encounter begins on Thursday.

The defending champion, waiting to open its account after having allowed Karnataka to get away with two points in last week's campaign opener, will be looking to reinforcements J. P. Yadav and Kulamani Parida to make the decisive difference to its fortunes.

On the other hand, Tamil Nadu will be keen to break the jinx. S. Sriram, the lone survivor of the team that lost by an innings and 65 runs in February 1997 and member of the side that went down by eight wickets five years later, will return to the venue under the leadership of Hemang Badani in a bid to go back with points, for a change.

A much-chastened Tamil Nadu, which can draw consolation from the fact that it had tamed Railways in the last two meetings at home on the basis of the first innings lead, knows fully well what needs to be done to take points off Railways.

Depth in batting

Tamil Nadu has the depth to bat Railways out of the contest and at least gain the first innings lead, like it did in the rain-affected match against Gujarat last week. Badani says, "Patience is the key on this pitch and our strokemakers will have to curb their aggression."

Even without medium pacer L. Balaji, who is nursing a side strain, Tamil Nadu is confident of coming out stronger over the next four days. The batting line-up including S. Aniruddha, S. Vidyut, S. Sriram, C. Hemanth Kumar, Dinesh Kaarthick, Badani, S. Badrinath and the evergreen S. Sharath holds the promise to add to the woes of Railways.

The host, which over the past five seasons has gained the respect of all opposition through some consistently spirited displays, is quietly confident of thwarting Tamil Nadu's bid. Railways' top-order batsmen are aware that it was their lack of application that helped Karnataka face a smaller first innings target than what their coach Vinod Sharma had expected. They are keen to make amends while the bowlers know their job better on this surface.

There is likely to be three changes in the Railways team with Yadav, Parida and Madan Yadav coming in for Vineet Saxena, Santosh Saxena and Shankar Rao. Tamil Nadu will announce its playing eleven only on Thursday morning.

The teams: Railways (likely): Sunjoy Bangar (capt.), Amit Pagnis, Tejinder Pal Singh, J. P. Yadav, Raja Ali, Yere Goud, Shreyas Khanolkar, Sudhir Wankhede, Madan Yadav, Harvinder Singh and Kulamani Parida.

Tamil Nadu (from): Hemang Badani (cap.), S. Aniruddha, S. Vidyut, S. Badrinath, S. Sharath, K. Vasudeva Das, Hemant Kumar, Dinesh Kaarthick, Aashish Kapoor, R. Ramkumar, R. Jesuraj, R. Naresh, D. T. Kumaran and Vignesh.

Umpires: Messrs S. N. Bandekar and A. Y. Gokhale; Match Referee: P. Banerjee.

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