MOHALI: Barring a miracle on Monday, Tamil Nadu will head to Dharamsala fully aware that their remaining two matches against Himachal Pradesh and Delhi are inconsequential as far as their Ranji Trophy season is concerned. They are 10th on the combined table of groups A and B and like previous seasons, they have nobody except themselves to blame.
At the end of Day 3 at IS Bindra Stadium, Tamil Nadu were trailing Punjab by 98 runs with seven wickets in hand. To qualify for the knockouts, they needed a win here, but after a flop show from the batsmen on the first day, all they can hope for is a point on the last day.
On Sunday, Shubman Gill converted his maiden double century in first-class cricket into a big one. Riding on his strokeful 268 (328b, 29x4, 4x6) Punjab posted 479. It could have been much more if not for left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore, who ran through the tail after the lunch break. It came too late, but Tamil Nadu know it wasn’t the bowlers who let them down.
The batting unit tried to save face in the second innings, as Abhinav Mukund (74) and N Jagadeesan (50) put on 91 for the first wicket. But these runs came at a time when the writing was pretty much on the wall. Inability of the batsmen to perform as a unit has been the biggest bane for Tamil Nadu this season across formats. Sadly for them, it was the same on Day 1 of a must-win match.
However weak Tamil Nadu’s bowling unit might be, they have performed decently with limited resources. The same can’t be said of the batting, which includes some illustrious names. It’s no surprise that coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar cited inconsistency of the batsmen as one the reasons behind a poor season.
“It was not a wicket where you get all out for 215. We could have batted better. Batting is all about making right decisions, but we made mistakes. Sometimes, they lose concentration. And closer to the break, you need to buckle down and bat sensibly. That is why we are here. If you make 350, you can always be in the game, irrespective of the kind of start they get.”
There have been only four centuries and nine fifties from a batting unit featuring Abhinav Mukund, Baba Indrajith, Baba Aparajith, N Jagadeesan, Vijay Shankar and Dinesh Karthik. While the last two have only played two matches because of India A commitments, the rest have been unable to capitalise on starts.
“All of them get to double figures, but you need to sustain it for long. That’s where we failed. Our bowlers did well in the sense that they performed close to what we expected. But in batting, we are not anywhere close. The scoreboard will say it and it has nothing to do with the pitches or opposition. It is the inability to convert starts into something that matters and counts for the team,” Kanitkar added.