Tamil Nadu showed discipline and character as it beat Railways by 174 runs before tea on the fourth day of their Ranji Trophy cricket league match at the Lohnu ground here on Sunday.
It was a dream performance after the team had been bundled out for 121 in the first innings and had conceded a 52-run first innings lead.
While Malolan Rangarajan speeded up the finish with four wickets, it was J. Kousik who sent the stumps flying in the morning for two early wickets that forced Railways to apply the brakes after it had smashed 118 runs without losing a wicket overnight.
The fact that Railways brought the shutters down early in the chase of a target of 401, and became doubly defensive, helped Tamil Nadu focus on the task of getting the wickets without worrying about keeping an eye on the scoreboard.
Opener Saurabh Wakaskar stood out with a fine 120 before he was bowled by Malolan. It was the seventh wicket and the team added only four more runs after that. In fact, the last six wickets fell in the space of 30 runs, which reflected poorly on a team that had played good cricket for three days.
Kanitkar thrilledTamil Nadu coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said he was happy with the manner in which his team picked itself up after a disappointing start and played good cricket over the last two days.
“We have to focus on what we can do and do our best, both individually and collectively as a team. More than the win, I am happy with the way the team played,” said Kanitkar.
After losing to Mumbai by two wickets in the first match in Rohtak, the Tamil Nadu team has bounced back, promising further improvement in the matches ahead.
Match referee Sanjay Raul adjudged Dinesh Karthik ‘man-of-the-match’ for his superlative innings of 163 in the second innings which decisively turned the match in Tamil Nadu’s favour, after captain Abhinav Mukund had laid the foundation with a century.
Tamil Nadu collected six points for the outright win, while a draw would have fetched Railways three points, for the first innings lead, it got nothing in the end.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 121.
Railways — 1st innings: 173.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: 452 for eight decl.
Railways — 2nd innings: Saurabh Wakaskar b Malolan Rangarajan120, Shivakant Shukla b Kousik 52, Mrunal Devdhar b Kousik 6, V. Cheluvaraj c Dinesh Karthik b K. Vignesh 6, Arindam Ghosh c Kaushik Gandhi b Malolan Rangarajan 15, Mahesh Rawat c Dinesh Karthik b Aswin Crist 2, Ashish Yadav b T. Natarajan 13, Karn Sharma c Washington Sundar b Natarajan 0, Anureet Singh lbw b Malolan Rangarajan 4, Deepak Bansal (not out) 0, M.R. Chaudhary c B. Aparajith b Malolan Rangarajan 0; Extras (lb-8): 8; Total (in 82.2 overs): 226.
Fall of wickets: 1-108, 2-124, 3-145, 4-193, 5-196, 6-222, 7-222, 8-222, 9-226,
Tamil Nadu bowling: Aswin Crist 16-1-58-1, T. Natarajan 12-4-51-2, Malolan Rangarajan 13.2-4-37-4, Washington Sundar 3-1-8-0, K. Vignesh 17-7-33-1, J. Kousik 17-11-17-2, B. Aparajith 1-0-8-0, Abhinav Mukund 3-0-6-0.
Tamil Nadu won by 174 runs.
Man-of-the-match: Dinesh Karthik.
Points: TN 6, Railways 0.
