The Hindu : Sport : Tamil Nadu faces a must-win situation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

Sport

Sport

Tamil Nadu faces a must-win situation

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, DEC. 30. Tamil Nadu takes on Maharashtra in a Ranji Trophy Elite group `B' match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday in a must-win situation in its final league game.

The failure to drive home the advantage in the away game against Baroda means that the host now has 11 points from five games.

Punjab has completed its engagements with three wins and 16 points. Baroda (12), that roared back to grab four points against Tamil Nadu, could take its tally to 16 with a win over Uttar Pradesh at Vadodara. And Hyderabad, which meets Assam at home, has the same number of points as Baroda, with an extra win to boot.

If either Hyderabad or Baroda scores a win, then Tamil Nadu, even if it outplays Maharashtra to gain a bonus point, will find itself out. If the teams are level on points, then the number of outright victories is taken into account for determining the semi-finalists.

Presently, Hyderabad has three wins, and Baroda two to Tamil Nadu's lone victory. With the host requiring a win to give itself a chance of progressing, a green pitch awaits the teams. Tamil Nadu will be banking on its pace attack of R. Jesuraj, M.R. Shrinivas and either C. Ganapathy or M.K. Shivakumar. Skipper Sridharan Sriram's return should strengthen the home side's batting.

Plagued by inconsistency, Maharashtra (five points from five matches) is no pushover. The young left-handed opener Dheeraj Jadhav has been among the runs and pace-bowling all-rounder Ranjit Khirid has had his moments. Maharashtra will be seeking runs from skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who has not been in the best of touches. On a green pitch, the experienced paceman Iqbal Siddiqui could prove a factor too.

The teams:

Tamil Nadu (from): S. Sriram (captain), S. Vidyut, S. Badrinath, S. Sharath, K. Shree Vasudeva Das, C. Hemant Kumar, K. Dinesh Kaarthick (w.k.), R. Ramkumar, M.R. Shrinivas, R. Jesuraj, C. Ganapathy, M.K. Shivakumar, Anirudh Srikkanth, Sunil Viswanathan & Arjun Sarathy. Coach: B. Arun.

Maharashtra (from): H. Kanitkar, D. Jadhav, K. Marathe, K. Adhav, K. Aphale, A. Chavan, S. Satbhai (w.k), D. Mohan, P. More, R. Khirid, I. Siddiqui, K. Khadkikar, B. Dalvi, A. Sanklecha, & K. Shinde. Coach: Paras Mhambrey.

Umpires: K.S. Giridharan (Bhilai) & B.S. Bhatti (Nagpur). Match Referee: Bhandari Lal (Punjab).

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