Sathish was a delighted man on Thursday, not just for having steered Tamil Nadu out of trouble but for having done so, admittedly, on the back of previous failures in similar circumstances.
Sathish scored an undefeated 34 as Tamil Nadu claimed a wafer-thin one-wicket victory over Uttar Pradesh in the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Thursday.
“In many games in the past, I have got out during such scenarios and we have ended up losing,” the 34-year-old said afterwards. “So this time I wanted to stay in the middle and make it count for my team. I’m happy to win games for Tamil Nadu and want to continue my good show.”
There was turn and inconsistent bounce and Sathish noted that making runs on Thursday’s pitch had not been easy. “I expected it to be a close game but not to this extent,” he said.
“It was a slow, two-paced wicket. We had to hang on to get runs. We could not just go in and score easily.”
Sathish stated that the atmosphere in the Tamil Nadu dressing room had been overwhelmingly positive. “The presence of Ashwin and Vijay has helped a lot,” he said. “They are coming straight from the South Africa series and they have given their full effort and that’s a motivation for the players.
“We have been charged up right from the league stages. Close games like these do happen. We lost a game against Punjab despite being in a good situation and Ashwin was there with us even in that match, backing the players. We just want to play good cricket in the semifinals now.”
