Ajith Ram says 19-month injury layoff helped him focus on the controllables

Ajith Ram returned to first-class cricket a few days ago and told reporters at the MAC Stadium on Saturday that his 19-month injury layoff had helped him focus on the controllables. He spoke after making his comeback to red-ball cricket following a long absence from the format.

Ajith missed the entire 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season and played his first red-ball match in over 18 months. His knee injury, sustained during the 2025 TNPL, had weighed on his mind before he found his rhythm. In the second essay against Uttarakhand he claimed four wickets as Tamil Nadu recorded a thumping win.

“I did have a few nerves initially. Coming back after a long layoff, everything felt a bit new. But as the game progressed, I began regaining that feel,” Ajith Ram said at the MAC Stadium on Saturday, two days ahead of the fixture against Railways.

The 28-year-old “could barely sleep for the first three months” before he began to cope with the situation. “Every athlete goes through a phase like this, where something disrupts your momentum just when you’re doing well. Initially, it was very tough. But once I accepted that this was the reality, my focus shifted to how I was going to make a comeback.”

Ajith Ram has 98 wickets in 19 matches at an average of 17.35 and has been described in the report as a reliable red-ball bowler. Breaching the three-figure mark, however, does not excite him: “Ultimately, 100 is just a number. My goal is to always contribute meaningfully. Milestones are simply byproducts of sticking to the process… my mindset is to go out and enjoy the game. Whatever happened has happened, and nobody knows what lies ahead. Those 19 months really helped me focus strictly on the controllables”.

His remarks were made at the MAC Stadium on Saturday, two days before Tamil Nadu’s fixture against Railways.