The final league game of the season, two heavyweight teams with a rich history, and to be telecast live on TV. It would have been the perfect setting to see which team comes out on top over four days and consolidate their position going into the knockouts or even fight for a place in the final eight.
Unfortunately, a top billing that Tamil Nadu versus Delhi would usually have deserved has been reduced to a match in which both teams will at best play for pride.
Placed 12th and 13th on the combined table of Groups A & B in the Ranji Trophy, Delhi and Tamil Nadu are separated by only one point — with 13 and 12 respectively.
Both teams come into the game on the back of defeats, TN against Himachal, and Delhi against Bengal though the home team had a break during the last round and should be relatively fresh.
Four fresh faces
It is the second year in succession TN has failed to make the knockouts and the team will have four fresh faces available for selection in Pradosh Ranjan Paul, S. Mohan Prasath, S. Lokeshwar and S. Radhakrishnan. Out of the four, Pradosh and left-arm spinner, Mohan Prasath appear to have the best chance of making it to the playing eleven.
TN skipper B. Indrajith pointed out that it was the batting that had let the team down this season especially in the last two games where the team was on the back foot after failing to put up decent totals in the first innings.
“This is the right time to bring in youngsters because earlier it was difficult as we had a chance to qualify. This game we don’t have anything to play for except pride,” Indrajith added.
Speaking about the season, Delhi’s Dhruv Shorey said, “There were one or two bad days in batting and one or two bad days in bowling. We are a little inexperienced and it is a team in transition. So you do make a few mistakes and those mistakes cost us.”
The wicket is expected to be similar to the one TN played against Kerala — which the home team won — with assistance for the spinners.
The teams (from):
Tamil Nadu: B. Indrajith (Capt.), Abhinav Mukund, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, B. Aparajith, S. Lokeshwar, N. Jagadeesan, Vijay Shankar, J. Kousik, M. Shahrukh Khan, S. Mohan Prasath, R. Sai Kishore, M. Mohammed, K. Vignesh, T. Natarajan and S. Radhakrishnan
Delhi: Nitish Rana (Capt.), Anuj Rawat, Navdeep Saini, Kunal Chadela, Shivam Sharma, Vikash Mishra, Dhruv Shorey, Shivank Vashisth, Hiten Dalal, Lalit Yadav, Kulwant Khejroliya, Himmat Singh, Jonty Sidhu, Subodh Bhati and Akash Sudan .
