Dense fog and haze ensured that the coda of the Ranji Trophy Group B match between Tamil Nadu and Railways was largely underproduced at the Jamia Millia sports complex here on Tuesday.
Sixty-five minutes of play somehow seeped through the obscurity but it bore marks of insignificance throughout. Fourteen overs brought just 18 runs for the loss of a wicket; the ball flew sharply off S. Badrinath’s bat as he sought to peck at Ranjit Mali’s delivery. Shivkant Shukla took an impressive one-handed catch at second slip.
Fog returned suddenly afterwards to cause an end to the proceedings at 2.40 p.m. TN gained three points from this match to increase its tally to 17 from six games while Railways added one to move to 21. The latter sits atop group B while the former lies fourth.
Hard-fought matchTN coach W.V. Raman said that, despite the loss of almost two days due to unfavourable weather, he wasn’t overly disappointed. “I wouldn’t call it an unfavourable result. It was a hard-fought match.”
“M. Mohammed (claimed his maiden first-class wicket here) and J. Kaushik’s performances were big plus points. Our batsmen could have done much better. They need to be more disciplined.”
DisappointedRailways coach Abhay Sharma was also disappointed by his batsmen’s showing as his team conceded the first-innings lead. But the bowlers’ performance uplifted his mood.
“Our bowlers have shown a big improvement. We have worked very hard with them. As a coach, I’m glad to see my methods have been successful.”
Anureet Singh and Ranjit Mali took six and four wickets, respectively, in this match to build on their impressive displays this season. When asked to detail the reasons behind his improvement this term, Anureet claimed that a greater quantum of bowling in the nets had developed the required fitness for delivering long spells effectively.
“My lengths are also better thanks to Ranjit. We converse regularly to learn much from each other,” said Anureet.
Mali credited his recent success to his off-season fitness regime.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu – 1st innings: 246.
Railways – 1st innings: 169.
Tamil Nadu – 2nd innings: K.B. Arun Karthick (not out) 10, Abhinav Mukund c Rawat b Anureet 2, S. Badrinath c Shukla b Mali 6, B. Aparajith (not out) 8; Extras: (lb-1, nb-1): 2; Total (for two wkts. in 25 overs): 28.
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-12.
Railways bowling: Anureet Singh 11-5-7-1, Ranjit Mali 12-7-15-1, Krishnakant Upadhyay 2-0-5-0.
