CHENNAI: KTA Madhava Prasad's patient 42 and a valuable 27 not out by C Andre Siddarth came in handy for Tamil Nadu U23 to beat Rest of India U23 by six wickets at the MA Chidambaram stadium here on Sunday. Set a target of 149 in 46 overs, Tamil Nadu achieved the same without fuss. Having already conceded the first innings lead, RoI tried to push for a win thanks to a double century from Angkrish Raghuvanshi, but that was not enough. U Bhagwandas Rao, secretary, TNCA and R Rangarajan, treasurer, TNCA, presented the trophy and medals to the winners and runner-up.
The Tamil Nadu skipper was delighted at his team's win, but revealed that his players played sensibly and explained that the match could have gone either way. "What I told my boys was just play normal cricket, because we had around 45 overs and 150 runs to score, where it could have gone both ways, where if we had lost wickets, we could have lost the match," said Andre Siddarth. "We batted normally, so that was the main thing to me. The match had a lot of ups and downs. We bowled extremely well in the first innings, we batted well in the first innings. They (RoI) batted extremely well in the second inning. I think it was a very much a complete match. I would just say that it wasn't a very one-sided dominant match. It was a match where it was anyone's game," added the Tamil Nadu batter.
The wicket for the four-day game had something for the bowlers on the first day and then flattened out. "I feel day one, it (wicket) had a little moisture in it. So on that wicket (Day 1) our bowlers bowled extremely well. And after that, it settled down. So most likely, the wicket was very much helpful for the bowlers on the first day, rather than the second, third or fourth day," insisted Andre Siddarth.
Among the Tamil Nadu spinners, Sachin Rathi's performance was noteworthy as his six-fer gave the hosts a big lead and this led to their victory. "Sachin Rathi bowled extremely well, to be honest. He was one guy who gave me control and I can't forget P Vignesh, he also bowled extremely well too. Both of the left-arm spinners gave me control in the match. I have to give the credit to both of them," said Andre. "I would say Sachin Rathi has a natural wicket-taking ability and he's tall. He's very tall, the high-arm release and the revolutions that he gives on to the ball makes it bounce from any wicket. So he's very tough to play. And P Vignesh is a bowler who is very accurate. He knows what he's doing. So I feel both of them complement each other very well," signed off Andre.
Brief scores: Rest of India 179 in 71.5 ovs & 431/7 decl in 90 ovs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 203, Ayush Jethwa 58, Digvijay Patil 106, P Vignesh 5/144) lost to Tamil Nadu (U-23) 462 in 136 ovs & 150/4 in 34.5 ovs (SR Athish 29, KTA Madhava Prasad 42, Andre Siddarth 27 n.o., Emanjot Singh Chahal 3/57). Player of the Match: KTA Madhava Prasad.
