Tamil Nadu’s Baba Indrajith scored a brilliant 98 to almost help his side pull off an improbable chase against Karnataka in Chennai.
Credit: PTI photo
Chennai: Tamil Nadu needed 355 runs to win at the start of their second innings against Karnataka in their crucial Ranji Trophy Group C tie at the MA Chidambaram stadium.
At the start of the fourth day on Monday, they were 319 runs behind after having ticked off 36 runs the evening prior.
At lunch, they got to 150 for 3, meaning they needed 205 runs to win with seven wickets in hand and with two sessions left. At tea, they needed 143 runs to win with five wickets in hand and in 28 overs.
By the start of the mandatory period, they needed 97 runs in 15 overs. A panic-stricken Mayank Agarwal called for a meeting of the seniors at this point. They huddled about trying to figure out what to do and even got some input from the dressing room during the drinks break.
Shashi Kumar K and Hardik Raj had bowled well enough for the Karnataka skipper to ignore the new ball for over ten overs already. But, something had to change because at this point Baba Indrajith had shed the pick-up-singles-and-twos avatar and was eyeing boundaries. Vijay Shankar was beginning to grow in confidence too, especially after belting off-spinner Shashi Kumar for a six over midwicket.
Even as the duo settled in for the long haul and ran between wickets as if chased, Karnataka resolved to negative tactics, kept seven fielders on the ropes, didn’t take the new ball for a long time for it would make run-scoring easier, wasted time, had more meetings, umpires were getting agitated, the air was thick… Finally, they decided to take the new ball, 20 overs after it was made available to them. Vyshak Vijaykumar (3/71) and Vidwath Kaverappa bowled with all nine fielders out on the ropes and managed to keep Tamil Nadu tied down just long enough to pick up a draw.
In response to Karnataka’s daunting target, Tamil Nadu reached 338 for 8 in 105 overs to slip to second on the table. Karnataka, meanwhile, picked up three points for the innings lead and took the top spot on the table with 24 points.
Surely though, they aren’t as relieved about their standing on the table as they are about coming away from this unscathed for this game will go down as one of the greatest two sides have engaged in. An instant classic!
Not at all bad for an encounter which looked like it was going to go Karnataka’s way. Had the contest been a tight one, it would have been enough of a takeaway, but expecting this game to go to the final over of the day would have been foolhardy. And yet, that’s exactly what happened.
In fact, until a rather unfortunate Indrajith was run out on 98 by Kaverappa in his follow-through, it was Tamil Nadu’s game to lose as they pursued 31 runs from 20 balls with two set batters.
That deflating dismissal of Indrajith followed by Vijay’s fall - a heave which only carried so far as Mayank at long on - meant the task was now nearing the realm of the impossible.
Kaverappa’s scalp of S Lokeshwar off the outside edge to Manish Pandey also made things a bit trickier, but skipper R Sai Kishore and Ajith Ram saw out the rest of the passage to fetch Tamil Nadu a point that will come in handy. But the fact that they were only a few big hits away from picking up six whole points while chasing such a big score on a fourth-day wicket will no doubt hurt.