CHENNAI: There was time when Tamil Nadu were suffering from Mumbai-phobia and were getting thrashed by the 40-time Ranji champions.But the current Tamil Nadu side which comprises of a bunch of energetic youngsters, ably guided by coach WV Raman, has no such pangs. They played as a unit at Chepauk on Friday and gave back Mumbai a dose of their own medicine, by trouncing the Suryakumar Yadav-led side by an innings and 44 runs with a day to spare.
Mumbai were all out for 232.Tamil Nadu got seven points, including a bonus point.Mumbai were outplayed in all departments of the game in the crucial tie, where Tamil Nadu bowlers’ consistency with the ball and brilliant fielding titled the scales in favour of the hosts.
Playing out two days with nine-wickets in hand on a rank turner would be an arduous task for most international teams. Mumbai’s ambitious plans to bat out the match suffered a severe blow on Friday morning when their seasoned campaigner Wasim Jaffer (3) caved into pressure. He offered a simple bat-pad catch to Indrajith at forward short-leg, with Malolan picking the big wicket.Thereafter Aditya Tare and Shreyas Iyer stitched a 84-run stand for the third wicket and frustrated the Tamil Nadu bowlers for a while.
Aditya (35) was sound in his defence and held fort at one end, while Shreyas (52) continued from where he left in the first innings and played fluently. A single off M Vijay in the mid-wicket area ringed in his third first-class fifty and second of the match. Shreyas after enjoying a life while on 34, cut and swept Suresh Kumar to the fence to show his sense of timing. His majestic cover drive off Rahil Shah showed his intent. He gelled with Aditya and the duo were looking solid for a very big stand.Abhinav Mukund tried all his spinners and even brought in Vijay Shankar to bowl a few overs but could not separate the pair. This is when he gambled with Murali Vijay.
Vijay, known to possess a ‘golden’ arm did the trick and put Tamil Nadu in the path of victory. He accounted for Aditya Tare and Shreyas Iyer.Aditya was done in by the bounce, as he tried to fend the ball to square leg, but it lobed to backward short leg, where R Sathish took a low diving catch. After a while, Shreyas too fell in identical fashion, reducing Mumbai to 100 for 4.
Scoreboard
Mumbai (1st innings) 141 Tamil Nadu (1st innings) 417 Mumbai (2nd innings, overnight 12/1) A Tare ct R Sathish b M Vijay 36, W Jaffer ct B Indrajith b M Rangarajan 3, S Iyer ct R Sathish b M Vijay 52, Suryakumar ct D Karthik b A Srinivas 65, S Lad lbw R Sathish 42, Sarfaraz ct R Sathish b S Suresh 0, Shardul ct B Shankar b R Shah 3, I Abdullah ct V Shankar b A Srinivas 7, V Dabholkar (not out) 0, Extras (nb 1, b 11) 12, Total (all out; 102.5 overs) 232. Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-13, 3-97, 4-100, 5-175, 6-197, 7-208, 8-219, 9-232. Bowling: R Shah 28-10-48-2, V Shankar 5-2-7-0, S Suresh 21-7-54-1, M Vijay 10-1-33-2, M Rangarajan 25-11-43-1, RA Srinivas 11.5-4-27-3, R Sathish 2-0-9-1.