CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu have an arduous task at hand when they take the field against Gujarat on the final day of their first round of the Ranji Trophy being played at Valsad. They still require 267 runs for a win with eight wickets in hand.
Set a target of 299 runs, Tamil Nadu lost their opener B Sachin and Washington Sundar. Sai Sudharsan (18) and Sai Kishore (4) were at the crease when stumps were drawn. The visitors were 32 for 2 in 15 overs in their second essay.
Chasing a tricky target on the final day is always tough and the first hour will be crucial on Monday. The Tamil Nadu batting lineup has some experienced campaigners in their ranks and they have to step up their game to make the chase possible.
“We are aware of the task ahead of us. We have a lot of experience in our ranks and we put our best foot forward and play positively for a win,” Pradosh Ranjan Paul told this daily. “On any day, the first hour is crucial. It is all the more important when one is chasing on the final day wicket. We have to see off their bowling attack initially so that we don’t suffer any damage and then pace out our innings and try to achieve the target,’’ added the elegant southpaw.
With the wicket helping spinners as Sai Kishore picked up four wickets in Gujarat’s second essay, Tamil Nadu batters during need to be careful against leggie Ravi Bishnoi and left-arm medium pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla.
“The wicket has eased out a bit and is helping spinners. Definitely, we have to be careful against Ravi. Plus we have to be watchful against Arzan, who was one bowler who troubled us a bit in our first essay,” added Pradosh. Tamil Nadu have chased down 300 plus runs in the past, but it all boils down to applying themselves, cutting down risky shots and playing with a positive mindset if they intend to overhaul the target.
“Yes, we have good batting depth. We need to pace our innings and have one or two good partnerships. I am keen to contribute more than what I did in the first innings. So we have to click as a batting unit and we are eager and keen to perform,’’ said an optimistic Pradosh.
On Saturday evening after the game, M Mohammed who helped Tamil Nadu get a lead, insisted that Tamil Nadu was keen to get Gujarat all out for around 170 runs in their second essay. But that was not to be. Stubborn half-centuries by Manan Hingrajia (52), Umang Kumar (89) and Ripal Patel (81) gave the hosts an opportunity to put Tamil Nadu under pressure. Tamil Nadu skipper Sai Kishore tried seven bowlers but was not able to restrain the trio.
“Both Manan and Umang applied themselves well and thus could get some runs. We tried our best to unsettle them, but they really played well at that point of time,” said Pradosh.
Select scores At Hubballi: Punjab: 15 & 238/3 in 68 ovs (Prabhsimran Singh 100, Abhishek Sharma 91) vs Karnataka 514/8 decl in 140 ovs (Devdutt Padikkal 193, Manish Pandey 118, S Sharath 76; Arshdeep Singh 3/92); At Valsad: Gujarat 236 & 312 in 84 ovs (Ripal Patel 81, Umang Kumar 89, Manan Hingrajia 52; Sai Kishore 4/53, Sandeep Warrier 3/51) vs Tamil Nadu 250 & 32/2 in 15 ovs; At Rajkot: Jharkhand 142 & 140/2 in 45 ovs (Kumar Deobrat 74 batting) vs Saurashtra 578/4 in 156 ovs (Cheteshwar Pujara 243 n.o, Prerak Mankad 104 n.o); At Alapuzha: Uttar Pradesh 302 & 219/1 in 62 ovs (Aryan Juyal 115 batting) vs Kerala 243 in 74 ovs (Vishnu Vinod 74, Ankit Rajput 5/64); At New Delhi: Delhi 148 & 126/8 in 40 ovs (Lakshay 24; Abin Mathew 4/30) vs Pondicherry 244 in 63.3 ovs (Paras Ratnaparkhe 60, Krishna 44); At Visakhapatnam: Bengal 409 in 126.2 ovs (Anustup Majumdar 125; A Lalith Mohan 4/134) vs Andhra 339/6 in 133 ovs (Ricky Bhui 107 batting, Hanuma Vihari 51).
