A decisive phase of play between lunch and tea changed the complexion of the Elite Group B Ranji Trophy contest between Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, consigning the latter to a nine-wicket defeat at the HPCA Stadium here on Tuesday.
As on the first day, Tamil Nadu suffered a collapse, this time losing six wickets for 25 runs.
After having taken pains to restore parity in the contest, the top-order batsmen departed a touch too early to expose the rest of the middle- and lower-order against a potent Himachal seam attack. The new ball, taken after the 100th over, did the trick for the hosts.
Needing 110 to win in two hours, the Himachal openers batted in cavalier fashion. Ankush Bains (64 not out, 38b, 6x4, 4x6), in particular, took a liking to left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore, slog-sweeping for sixes.
T. Natarajan was punched through cover and pulled repeatedly for boundaries. In the 16th over, with half an hour left, Himachal romped home.
In the first half of the day, an outright win seemed distant. All eyes were on Abhinav Mukund who had played a compelling innings on the third day while becoming his team’s highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy. But he departed early this day. After stroking four more boundaries, he was bowled for 128 by Arpit Guleria. Skipper B. Indrajith (106, 243b, 12x4) and his more enterprising partner, Vijay Shankar, then stitched together a partnership of 109.
The new ball effect
Quite significantly, Indrajith consumed time to deflate the opposition. At the beginning of the day, the Himachal fast bowlers were encouraged by the fielders, but as time wore on, the side appeared resigned to sharing the honours. All that changed once the new ball was taken.
As the seamers started unsettling the Tamil Nadu batsmen, the Himachal fielders were full of energy once again.
On a high: Himachal pacer Arpit Guleria celebrates with Raghav Dhawan.
Before that, Vijay Shankar, after an attractive half-century, had been stumped by wicketkeeper Ankush Bains off leg-spinner Prashant Chopra. It was a decisive moment, as Indrajith reflected later on. “That one wicket gave them (Himachal’s players) momentum. All we needed was a 40-50 run partnership to see us through,” he said.
Once N. Jagadeesan, batting at No. 6, was caught at slip off Rishi Dhawan, the floodgates opened. Shahrukh Khan and M. Mohammed fell to the fast and accurate Guleria while Sai Kishore was taken at slip off Rishi. What added to the visitors’ woes was the run out of Abhishek Tanwar. But the crucial wicket was that of the well-set Indrajith. The right-hander had looked unruffled during his stay, leaving deliveries outside off-stump and frustrating the Himachal attack.
However, once he was castled by Rishi, the team couldn’t recover.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 227.
Himachal Pradesh — 1st innings: 463.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: Dinesh Karthik c Bains b Jaswal 1, Abhinav Mukund b Guleria 128, B. Aparajith c Prashant b Raghav Dhawan 24, B. Indrajith b Rishi Dhawan 106, Vijay Shankar st. Bains b Prashant 56, N. Jagadeesan c Dagar b Rishi Dhawan 3, Shahrukh Khan lbw b Guleria 0, Abhishek Tanwar run out 0, M. Mohammed b Guleria 2, R. Sai Kishore c (sub) b Rishi Dhawan 10, T. Natarajan (not out) 0; Extras (nb-2, w-4, b-1, lb-8): 15; Total (in 118.3 overs): 345.
Himachal Pradesh bowling: Guleria 26.3-10-56-3, Jaiswal 12-4-42-1, Rishi Dhawan 25-6-60-3, Gurvinder 16-2-53-0, Raghav Dhawan 15-4-37-1, Prashant 8-0-31-1, Dagar 16-0-57-0.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-90, 3-203, 4-312, 5-320, 6-329, 7-331, 8-331, 9-343.
Himachal Pradesh — 2nd innings: Raghav Dhawan b Sai Kishore 39, Ankush Bains (not out) 64, Rishi Dhawan (not out) 4; Extras (nb-1, w-1, lb-2): 4; Total (for one wkt. in 15.3 overs): 111.
Fall of wicket: 1-107.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Natarajan 7-0-35-0, Mohammed 2-0-10-0, Vijay Shankar 1-0-16-0, Sai Kishore 4.3-0-36-1, Tanwar 1-0-12-0.
