The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Saurashtra denies TN an outright win

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Saurashtra denies TN an outright win

Sports Reporter

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

HIGH-FIVES: Tamil Nadu’s S. Suresh Kumar celebrates with teammates after dismissing Saurashtra’s K. Vaghela.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu picked up three points by virtue of its first innings lead over Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy Super league match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.

The topic of debate on the final day’s play on Tuesday was whether Tamil Nadu could take 15 wickets for an innings victory.

Tamil Nadu’s coach W.V. Raman had sounded optimistic the other day basing his chances on a “wearing pitch.” To be fair to TN, some hope lingered as Saurashtra resumed its first innings on 120 for five and folded up for 211, an hour before lunch. Southpaw R. Dhruv’s (46, 64b, 4x4, 1x6) big hitting helping the visitor reach the total. Following on, Saurashtra finished on 105 for two.

The win could have been achieved had the spinners exploited the pitch. R. Ramkumar, C. Suresh and S. Suresh Kumar couldn’t make any sort of a breakthrough when Saurashtra batted for the second time.

After the loss of opener K. Vaghela and Pratik Mehta, S. Jogiyani (46 not out, 193b, 6x4) and C. Pujara (47 not out, 79b, 7x4) played with a straight bat and put together an unfinished 75-run stand for the third wicket that effectively sealed Tamil Nadu’s desire of garnering six points.

Tamil Nadu medium-pacer Yomahesh did not come to the field in the second innings reportedly due to an ankle sprain. Tamil Nadu (seven points from four matches) next takes on Himachal Pradesh on December 9.

The scores:

Tamil Nadu —1st innings: 531 for two declared.

Saurashtra —1st innings: K. Vaghela c & b Ramkumar 1, S. Jogiyani c Gopinath b Amarnath 0, S. Kotak b Yomahesh 12, C. Pujara c Badrinath b Ramkumar 62, P. Mehta c Gopinath b Ramkumar 21, J. Shah c Prasanna b Ramkumar 24, R. Dhruv lbw b C. Suresh 46, K. Makwana c Srinivasan b C. Suresh 0, R. Jadeja c K. Shri Vasudeva Das b Badrinath 33, S. Jobenputra c & b C. Suresh 0, S. Maniar 0 (not out), Extras: (b-1, lb-1, nb-8, w-2) 12. Total: (all out in 69.2 overs): 211.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-21, 4-97, 5-112, 6-139, 7-211, 8-211, 9-211.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Yomahesh 11-2-53-1, P. Amarnath 13-5-38-1, R. Ramkumar 26-5-68-4, C. Suresh 6.2-1-19-3, S. Suresh Kumar 9-0-23-0, K. Shri Vasudeva Das 2-0-7-0, S. Badrinath 2-1-1-1.

Saurashtra — 2nd innings: K. Vaghela b S. Suresh Kumar 3, S. Jogiyani (not out) 46, P. Mehta c Srinivasan b Shri Vasudeva Das 2, C. Pujara (not out) 47, Extras (lb-2, w-5) 7. Total (for two wkts. in 64 overs): 105.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-30.

Tamil Nadu bowling: P. Amarnath 5-2-16-0, C. Suresh 18-13-21-0, R. Ramkumar 15-12-14-0, S. Suresh Kumar 17-8-23-1, S. Badrinath 4-2-3-0, K. Shri Vasudeva Das 5-2-26-1.

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