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Tamil Nadu escapes with a draw

By Our Sports Reporter

Vishnuvardhan of Hyderabad is ecstatic after castling Tamil Nadu's S. Badrinath on the final day of their Ranji Trophy match in Hyderabad on Saturday.

HYDERABAD DEC. 20. Tamil Nadu, faced with the threat of an innings defeat, salvaged a creditable draw against Hyderabad finishing at 239 for four in its second innings, on the final day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite-B match at the Gymkhana Grounds here on Saturday. Tamil Nadu now tops the table with 15 points from six matches.

Resuming at 37 for one, Tamil Nadu batsmen showed the desired temperament and discipline to keep the Hyderabad bowlers at bay despite losing the solid-looking Sridharan Sriram (41, 74m, 51b, 6x4) very early when he snicked one from off-spinner J. Shivaji Yadav. Soon, wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Kaarthick (10) perished to a bat-pad catch, caught by an alert substitute Anirudh Singh off Shivaji Yadav.

At this juncture, Tamil Nadu was in a spot of bother at 91 for three and the home team's chance to force a win brightened. But, a stubborn effort from S. Badrinath (56, 208m, 153b, 3x4, 1x6) and Sunil Viswanathan (70 not out, 202b, 7x4), who added 103 runs for the fourth wicket, effectively dashed Hyderabad's hopes.

This was also the phase when there were a few debatable umpiring decisions. Three confident shouts for bat-pad catches were turned down leading to terrible disappointment in the Hyderabad camp.

Then, Badrinath was lucky to survive a close call for lbw against Shivaji Yadav with the Tamil Nadu score at 138 for three.

Hyderabad coach Rajesh Yadav was on record at the end of the day's play to say, "umpiring was bad but for which we could have won the match."

Shivaji Yadav, for some strange reason, didn't look all that penetrative in the final session even when he had the chance to exploit the cracks at the pavilion-end, after Badrinath was castled by left-arm medium-pacer Vishnuvardhan at the stroke of tea.

Play was finally called off after the eighth mandatory over.

Now, Hyderabad's hopes of qualifying for the knock-out have receded drastically, with one match against Rajasthan here next week. Hyderabad finished with 10 points from five matches.

The scores: Hyderabad — 1st innings: 447.

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 240.

Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: S. Suresh Kumar lbw b Vishnuvardhan 34, Dinesh Kaarthick c (sub) Anirudh Singh b Shivaji Yadav 10, S. Sriram c Rayudu b Shivaji Yadav 41, S. Badrinath b Vishnuvardhan 56, Sunil Viswanathan (not out) 70, S. Sharath (not out) 9. Extras: (b-6, lb-9, nb-4) 19. Total: (for four wkts.) 239.

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-91, 3-91, 4-194.

Hyderabad bowling: N.P. Singh 14-5-34-0, Fiaz Ahmed 16-6-14-0, Vishnuvardhan 23-6-58-2, Daniel Manohar 7-3-8-0, Raju 20-5-45-0, Shivaji Yadav 29-6-65-2.

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