The Hindu : History favours Mumbai but...

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 24, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

History favours Mumbai but...

By Sanjay Rajan

CHENNAI, MARCH 23. Tamil Nadu has won the Ranji Trophy only twice. And in both those conquests — under R.B. Alagannan's stewardship in 1954-55 and S. Vasudevan's leadership in 1987-88 — Tamil Nadu didn't meet Mumbai.

In the last two instances that Tamil Nadu came close to regaining the coveted crown, Mumbai stopped it — in the semifinals of the 1999-2000 edition and in the final last year.

When Sairaj Bahutule and S. Suresh go out to toss at the Chidambaram Stadium here on March 26, it'll be only the fifth time the teams will be meeting in the final and the second time for the title in the southern metropolis.

This is Tamil Nadu's 10th appearance in the final compared to Mumbai's 39th. The latter has bagged the crown a record 35 times. In their 17 meetings, Mumbai has prevailed 11 times, held the upperhand in four drawn encounters and lost only twice.

History probably favours Mumbai but the two losses to the southern powerhouse have curiously been away from home - at Tirunelveli in the quarterfinals of the 1995-96 season and at Chennai in the pre-quarterfinals of the 2001-02 season.

This Tamil Nadu team, which boasts of one of the best batting line-ups in the country, is not overawed by reputations. As Sridharan Sriram pointed out, "it's the name Mumbai — the Mecca of Indian Cricket — which carries the weight, not the players. In terms of man-to-man, they are no different from others, barring, of course, you-know-who."

That one man — Sachin Tendulkar — beat Tamil Nadu single-handedly in the '99-00 season with an incredible double hundred. Being overwhelmed by a genius was acceptable, but not the defeat last year against a side without Tendulkar. That hurt Suresh & Co. deeply.

"We bowled out Mumbai for 260 in its first innings, and at 202 for four in reply, held the upperhand before collapsing to 271," recollects Sriram with pain. "To lose outright after having secured the first innings honours felt worse."

The only Mumbai-Tamil Nadu final played at Chepauk was in April 1973, an encounter which was both eventful and memorable.

Opting to bat on a turning track, the strong Bombay line-up, led by Ajit Wadekar, was bowled out for 151 by the spin duo of S. Venkatraghavan and V.V. Kumar, who took five wickets each.

Mumbai hit back through left-arm spinner `Paddy' Shivalkar, whose eight for 16 bundled out the host for 80.

Mediumpacer B. Kalyanasundaram took four wickets, including a hat-trick, as Tamil Nadu restricted Mumbai to 113 in its second knock. Needing 185 for victory, the host was shot out for 61, with Eknath Solkar and Shivalkar finishing with five apiece.

Abdul Jabbar remembers the contest vividly. "Things were different then. Mumbai had top-class sides those days. On that particular occasion, barring two or three players, the rest of us were inexperienced. Things are different now. I think Tamil Nadu has an edge."

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