Tamil Nadu successfully thwarted Maharashtra’s valiant attempts on the first-innings lead, bowling the latter out 95 runs short on the final day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
It was Tamil Nadu’s second line of seamers — Vijay Shankar and Aswin Crist — who put a spoke in the wheels of the Maharashtra pursuit, the innings ending on 454.
Inevitably the match then petered out into a tame draw as Tamil Nadu played out the remainder of the day scoring 119 without loss in its second innings.
ADVERTISEMENT
Beginning the day needing 155 runs to overhaul Tamil Nadu’s first innings total of 549, Maharashtra surprisingly capitulated 125 minutes into the final day’s play.
Vijay Shankar threw open the gates for Tamil Nadu in a span of three balls.
Bowling the 11th over of the morning, he got rid of the overnight pair of captain Rohit Motwani and Ankit Bawne. Motwani (11) went first trying to pull a rising delivery, and ended up edging it to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. A ball later, Bawne failed to read the out-swing and edged to first slip R. Prasanna.
ADVERTISEMENT
At 412 for seven, Maharashtra effectively lost the resolve to get back into the fight.
Aswin Crist then mopped up the Maharshtra tail by getting Anupam Sanklecha and Domnic Muthuswami and also running Samad Fallah out to end Maharashtra’s innings and clinching Tamil Nadu’s 12th appearance in the final.
The decision to bat slow on a placid wicket after winning the toss was vindicated, said TN captain Abhinav Mukund.
“Given the format of the match, it was all about who batted more patiently. We were more focused on getting partnerships going to reach a big score.
“They took an aggressive approach, and that helped us get some wickets in the end.”
Fined Abhinav was fined 40 per cent — and the team 20 per cent — of the match fee for slow over-rate in the match.
The scores: Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 549.
Maharashtra — 1st innings: Swapnil Gugale c Balaji b Aparajith 154, Harshad Khadiwale b Balaji 14, Chirag Khurana c Karthik b Crist 125, Rahul Tripathi lbw b Crist 2, Ankit Bawne c Prasanna b Vijay Shankar 57, Kedar Jadhav c Prasanth b Rangarajan 26, Rohit Motwani c Karthik b Vijay Shankar 11, Shrikant Mundhe (not out) 25, Anupam Sanklecha c sub b Crist 17, Domnic Muthuswamy c Aparajith b Crist 0, Samad Fallah run out 0, Extras (b-4, lb-15, w-2, nb-2) 23; Total (in 142 overs) 454.
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-290, 3-299, 4-330, 5-375, 6-411, 7-412, 8-447, 9-447.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Prasanth Parameswaran 32-5-98-0, L. Balaji 27-3-87-1, Aswin Crist 34-9-89-4, Vijay Shankar 19-5-47-2, Malolan Rangarajan 24-4-89-1, Abhinav Mukund 2-0-10-0, B. Aparajith 4-0-15-1.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd Innings: Abhinav Mukund (not out) 66, B. Aparajith (not out) 51, Extras (lb-1, w-1) 2; Total (for no loss in 46.2 overs) 119.
Maharshtra bowling: Samad Fallah 12-1-29-0, Anupam Sanklecha 3-0-7-0, Shrikant Mundhe 6-1-7-0, Chirag Khurana 11-4-22-0, Swapnil Gugale 12-0-42-0, Domnic Muthuswami 2.2-0-11-0.
Man-of-the-match: Vijay Shankar.