Chennai: The decisive moment of the Ranji clash between Tamil Nadu and Baroda came on the stroke of lunch when Aushik Srinivas unleashed the ball of the match to send rival skipper Yusuf Pathan back to the pavilion for a golden duck.
The beautiful delivery, drifted in towards Pathan’s leg and turned away sharply before taking an outside edge to slips, ended the match as a contest with only Baroda’s fragile tail to be polished off.
As Yusuf started his long walk back to the dressing room, the entire Tamil Nadu team erupted in joy and it was a double delight for Aushik. The Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner and hardhitting Yusuf have developed an intense rivalry in the last three seasons and it can be traced back to the final of the 2010 Duleep Trophy in Hyderabad.
Aushik, a 16-year-old enjoying his rookie season then, accounted for Yusuf in the first innings of the big match before he was clubbed all over the park by the Baroda blaster in the second.
Aushik did create some opportunities to dismiss the key batsman, but the butter-fingered South Zone fielders gave Yusuf an array of reprieves. Yusuf went on to complete his maiden double century and in the process he also helped West Zone chase a record first-class target.
The two faced-off again in the quarterfinal of this season’s Duleep Trophy at Chepauk and this time it was Aushik’s turn. Lured by the left-arm spinner’s flighted delivery, Yusuf went for a big shot over long-on only to be caught at point. He was out for just one facing five balls.
“When he walked out, we knew he was going to take me on from the word go. So I threw him the bait with a tossed up delivery that spun across him. And he fell for it,” Aushik had said after South reached the semifinals.
From a 16-year-old who made waves with a stunning seven-for against Mumbai to be a mainstay of TN Ranji team, Aushik has come a long way in the domestic circuit. Aushik’s sensational performance against Mumbai with the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Wasim Jaffer in their ranks earned him a spot in the Duleep Trophy and there was no looking back since then. He is just seven short off 100 first-class wickets having played 35 matches.
