Mahesh Rawat is a compulsive stroke-player.
A busy man at the crease, he is at his best when he indulges, and on Sunday afternoon, he gave vent to his frustration of repeated failures this season. A flurry of shots from Rawat took the Group B Ranji Trophy match into the final day after Railways was asked to follow on by Tamil Nadu at the Karrnail Singh Stadium. At close, Railways was 200 for four, a lead of 36 runs.
Resuming at 129 for seven, Railways added 35 runs with overnight batsman V. Cheluvaraj garnering just three more after a fine 63 on the second day. Aswin Crist, an athletic young fast bowler, added two more wickets to his tally of four while J. Kousik contributed one to complete Railways’ woes.
In the second innings, Cheluvaraj continued in the same fashion by compiling an unbeaten 80 (198 balls, 14 fours) along with Rawat (77 batting, 111 balls, 10x4, 3x6).
Tamil Nadu chose to strangle Railways but Cheluvaraj was not going to surrender. He lost a couple of early partners but found the man to wage a combined resistance in Rawat.
It was their positive intent that stopped Tamil Nadu from running through the batting on a pitch that demanded discipline.
Attacking modeRawat shed his inhibitions and took the Tamil Nadu attack by the scruff. Cheluvaraj matched his companion but Rawat was miles ahead, his choice of shots and aggression the key component in the fightback. He was not averse to play the lofted shots which also happens to be his strong area and Rawat prospered to a splendid half-century. In comparison, Cheluvaraj, sedate and as assured when playing his shots, grew in confidence to carve a responsible innings.
The ease with which the two wiped off the deficit and shaped the strong response dashed Tamil Nadu’s hopes of winding up the contest a day earlier.
Double strikeOff-spinner Malolan Rangarajan struck twice as Tamil Nadu established early control by packing off Faiz Ahmed and Ashish Yadav.
For Saurabh Wakaskar, it was a second failure and Railways, at 77 for four, stared at an embarrassing loss when Arindam Ghosh could not repeat his first-innings form.
Tamil Nadu worked hard in the last session but without results.
As Railways skipper Mahesh Rawat noted, “It’s a do-or-die situation. The pitch is doing something but we have to hang in. The middle-order had not been performing but I am happy to get some runs.
“Chelu has batted extremely well and shown us the way. As a senior I have to take the responsibility and we have some mentally tough players. The first session is going to be crucial on Monday.”
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 328.
Railways — 1st innings: Saurabh Wakaskar b Crist 11, V. Cheluvaraj c Karthik b Crist 66, Faiz Ahmed c Kousik b Crist 0, R. Jonathan c Karthik b Crist 4, Arindam Ghosh c Indrajith b Kousik 48, Mahesh Rawat c Karthik b Crist 1, Ashish Yadav b Kousik 0, Anureet Singh b Kousik 0, Bhima Rao c Karthik b Crist 1, Krishnakant Upadhyay (not out) 20, Ranjeet Mali c Malolan b Mohammed 11; Extras (lb-1, w-1): 2; Total (in 65.5 overs): 164.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-12, 3-20, 4-124, 5-125, 6-126, 7-126, 8-132, 9-143.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Aswin Crist 17-2-60-6, M. Mohammed 17.5-6-37-1, Vijay Shankar 10-2-33-0, Malolan Rangarajan 11-3-19-0, J. Kousik 8-1-9-3, Abhinav Mukund 2-0-5-0.
Railways — 2nd innings: Saurabh Wakaskar c Prasanna b Shankar 8, V. Cheluvaraj (batting) 80, Faiz Ahmed c Indrajith b Malolan 10, Ashish Yadav lbw b Malolan 10, Arindam Ghosh c Karthik b Mohammed 7, Mahesh Rawat (batting) 77; Extras (b-2, lb-5, nb-1): 8; Total (for four wkts. in 70 overs): 200.
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-44, 3-60, 4-77.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Crist 10-0-33-0, Mohammed 11-5-25-1, Vijay Shankar 9-3-26-1, Kousik 14-8-27-0, Malolan 12-3-46-2, Rahil Shah 13-4-29-0, B. Aparajith 1-0-7-0.
