CHENNAI: Nidhish S Rajagopal converted his overnight score of 31 to a half century on Day four of the Ranji Trophy on Sunday as Tamil Nadu drew with Baroda. After posting a total of 449 in 148.1 overs, Baroda started well, ending at 124/0 at stumps with both Jyotsnil Singh (55 not out) and Shivalik Sharma (59 not out) making half-centuries.
This was Nidhish's second fifty in as many games for the hosts. For Baroda, off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya took six for 118, his seventh First Class five-wicket haul. Tamil Nadu by virtue of their 74-run lead got three points, while Baroda got one.
"Yes it was a good performance from our boys. At the end of the day, last two games went in our favour," said Tamil Nadu red-ball coach M Senthilnathan.
"It could have been even better. Instead of losing too many wickets on Saturday, if we had held some wickets and had about 150 to 170 runs (lead) then the match could have gone interesting," he added.
Performances against Odisha and Baroda has come little too late as Tamil Nadu were out of the knockouts race before the white-ball break. The coach gave his assessment of the Ranji season, defending his players' abilities. "One thing I can say is, we prepared well. Everything was going good. But when it came to the match, I think nothing went in our favour. I don't think our players were bad, they are highly talented, something went so drastically wrong that we couldn't do anything about it," Senthilnathan said.
But the coach had a lot of positives to take from. "Pradosh Ranjan Paul did really well at the top of the order, he is the highest run-getter this year. After that, Vimal has come out very well. Out of three matches, he got two big tons. That's another big thing. Of course, Vimal really played well this game against Baroda.The way he got out was really unlucky. Bowling-wise, there are couple of finds. Probably, Hemchudeshan bowled well. He had a six-fer against Baroda and the first match he played, he still got 2-3 wickets, but still he has to learn a lot. But we have found an off-spinner in Hem for the future. And Vidyut also came and chipped in. In the last two games Nidhish played well, so talent is there," signed off Senthilnathan.
