Chennai: Spectators who spent their Christmas holiday at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday would have returned home with no fond memories as Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan played out a drab draw in a Ranji Trophy match. Tamil Nadu now need a Herculean effort to reach the quarterfinals.
Rajasthan completed the formality of taking the first innings lead without much fuss and they were eventually bowled out for 438. The visitors gained three ‘bonus’ points for their sojourn in Chennai and Tamil Nadu had to be content with a solitary point. The home side must blame itself for the disastrous result.
As expected, Rajasthan took just 32 balls to take the lead with Rajesh Bishnoi (68, 157 balls, 7x4s, 1x6s) slapping left-arm spinner Rahil S. Shah for a boundary over square-leg.
While the hosts appeared resigned to their fate, obviously so after conceding the lead, the visitors didn’t take any initiative to spice up the proceedings. They were in no mood to go for the jugular by scoring some quick runs and put the TN batsmen back in action.
On a boring day of cricket, fifties from Hrishikesh Kanitkar (52) and Bishnoi provided some cheer to the statistically minded.
For TN, the only positive was the bowling of Vijay Shankar, who bowled a probing spell (9.5-2-18-1) for an hour and a half at the start of play. Twice he induced an edge — one off Kanitkar (on 51) and another from Bishnoi (on 32) to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik — but on both occasions the bowler had overstepped the line. Though Vijay Shankar served up seven no-balls in the innings, he had the satisfaction of picking two wickets.
TN skipper L. Balaji’s uninspiring ideas became the talking point of the day. Some of them — not bringing in off-spinner R. Malolan throughout the first session of play, positioning every fielder near the boundary for Bishnoi and, bowling a negative line to tail-ender Aniket Choudhary — were inexplicable. It meant Tamil Nadu had gone into lunch without polishing off the last two wickets of Rajasthan.
Watching the 11 TN souls move on the field, one got the impression that they were not willing to bat again after facing the fury of the sun for more than two days. A glance at the scoreboard reveals TN’s shabby work behind the stumps. Out of 70 extras, 44 came as byes, courtesy Karthik (37) and K.B. Arun Karthick (7).
When the two teams agreed to call off play 53 minutes after tea, TN had managed to score 76 runs without the loss of a wicket. Rajasthan pacer Pankaj Singh was adjudged the man of the match for his game changing five-for.
With the dispirited show, Tamil Nadu’s chances of progressing to the knockout stage have dimmed. They need an outright win against Bengal in their final league match, starting here on December 30, to stand any chance of playing in the quarters. Even if Tamil Nadu win, their fate would depend on the results of other matches.
SCOREBOARD: Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 318.
Rajasthan (1st innings): Siddharth Saraf c R. Prasanna b Malolan 63, Vineet Saxena c Dinesh Karthik b Rahil 83, Hrishikesh Kanitkar c Balaji b Vijay 52, Robin Bist b Rahil 3, Ashok Menaria lbw b Vijay Shankar 62, Rajesh Bishnoi c sub b Malolan 68, Chetan Bist b Rahil 6, Ramesh Powar c Aparajith b Aushik 0, Aniket Choudhary b Aushik 0, Arishta Singhavi c Aushik b Malolan 15, Pankaj Singh (not out) 16. Extras (b44, lb9, nb7, w5, pen5) 70. Total (in 181 overs) 438.
FoW: 1-163, 2-171, 3-177, 4-270, 5-339, 6-361, Bist, 7-362, 8-372, 9-411.
Bowling: L. Balaji 18-8-30-0, Rahil S. Shah 45-12-94-3, R. Aushik Srinivas 43-14-89-2, R. Malolan 55-18-126-3, B. Aparajith 1-0-8-0, Abhinav Mukund 1-0-1-0, S. Badrinath 4-0-9-0, Vijay Shankar 14-5-23-2.
Tamil Nadu (2nd innings): B. Aparajith (not out) 34, K.B. Arun Karthick (not out) 37. Extras (nb 4, w1) 5. Total (for no loss in 28 overs) 76.
Bowling: Pankaj Singh 7-1-14-0, Aniket Choudhary 7-2-12-0, Arishta Singhavi 7-0-29-0, Ramesh Powar 7-0-21-0.
