CHENNAI : Inability to bat in unison has been Tamil Nadu’s bane this Ranji Trophy season. With hopes of qualifying for knockouts gone, they went into the match against Himachal to end the season with some positives. But Saturday’s performance showed they still have a fair way to go if they are to achieve their goals.In the six matches that Tamil Nadu played before the tie in Dharamsala, the team’s average first innings total was 229.5. Only once did they cross 400 in nine innings. The batting was no different on Saturday as the visitors were bundled out for 227. By stumps on the first day’s play, Himachal lost skipper Prashant Chopra to M Mohammed to end at 25/1.
In the first and only Ranji match of the season at the picturesque HPCA Stadium, it was not clear how the pitch would behave. The teams went in with emphasis on pace and just a spinner each. Baba Indrajth & Co made one change from their previous game against Punjab. right-arm speedster Abhishek Tanwar was included in place of K Vignesh.
The visitors were in a spot of bother after electing to bat as they lost openers N Jagadeesan and Abhinav Mukund in under four overs. The Baba twins — Aparajith and Indrajith — tried to steady the ship with a 62-run stand for the third wicket. But just before lunch, Tamil Nadu lost Indrajith for 30 when he was clean bowled by medium pacer Raghav Dhawan. Playing a Ranji match after a gap of four years, the 31-year-old Raghav also accounted for Vijay Shankar (6) later in the day.
Aparajith did the rescue act in the middle with a 103-ball 53. It was his 19th first-class fifty and second of the season. The right-handed batsman hit nine boundaries before being caught at second slip off Pankaj Jaiswal.Just when Dinesh Karthik looked set after a scratchy start, he lost his wicket.
After playing a punch off the backfoot for four and a flick for two, the wicketkeeper-batsman was bowled by right-arm medium pacer Arpit Guleria. Karthik made 31 when his team needed a lot more. From 115/3, the team lost three wickets for 15 runs. After Vijay’s exit, the last specialist batsman Shahrukh Khan survived only 29 balls and made 19 before Rishi Dhawan trapped him leg before.
The unlikely hero for Tamil Nadu was Tanwar. In his second first-class match, the 27-year-old showed some resistance lower down the order as he notched up an 82-ball 44. He hit five boundaries and shared a 27-run stand with R Sai Kishore (17 not out) for the ninth wicket. But the part-time spin of Chopra ended Tanwar’s resistance and removed T Natarajan in the same over to snip off the tail.For Himachal, pacers shone on by picking up eight of the 10 wickets. Going into the second day, Tamil Nadu will be hoping to get back into the game with their pace duo of Natarajan and Mohammed.
Brief scores
Elite Group A
In Shivamogga: Karnataka 208/9 (Siddharth 69, Nischal 52; Mishra 3/57, Avinash 3/43) vs Railways.
Elite Group B
In Dharamsala: Tamil Nadu 227 (Aparajith 53, Tanwar 44; Jaiswal 3/45) vs Himachal 25/1.
In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 240/7 (Akshath 77, Tanmay 60, Himalay 51 n.o; Markande 3/65) vs Punjab.
In Vizag: Bengal 194/6 (Tiwary 90) vs Andhra.
In New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh 132/9 (Mishra 6/41, Sharma 3/48) vs Delhi.
Elite Group C
In Jammu: Jammu & Kashmir 127 ( Shah 44; Pradhan 4/27, Basant 3/24) vs Odisha 91/1 (Sarangi 56 n.o).