Tamil Nadu’s chase of 128 against Railways should have been straightforward but for their batsmen’s hara-kiri on a turning track with variable bounce.
One could hear shouts of “Nambunga da, nambunga da (trust yourself) from their desperate head coach Yo Mahesh. It was about asking the batsmen to trust their defence and complete what turned out to be a tricky chase after they were reduced to 91 for 5.
Eventually, No.5 batsman Andre Siddarth, with an unbeaten 56, ensured the team crossed the finish line for a second consecutive home win this season.
The day started with TN bundling out Railways for 108, with the visitors who were nine wickets down, adding just one run to their overnight total. TN chose to shuffle their batting order with Vimal Khumar, after successive ducks, pushed down the order and Athish SR opening in his place alongside N Jagadeesan.
With the pitch taking plenty of turn, TN needed a good start and a couple of steady partnerships. The 31-run opening stand was crucial. Railways hit back with three quick wickets. Jagadeesan was bowled by Taufik Uddin Mondal when he went for an expansive heave. Athish was caught at long-on when he tried to clear the ropes against left-arm spinner Raj Chouhdary, while Sonu Yadav, promoted to No.3 in search of some quick runs, was caught at long-on.
While Baba Indrajith’s presence brought calm in the middle, Siddarth had to endure a nervy start. The plan was to stay aggressive. But TN’s top-order, with exception to Indrajith, played recklessly.
Facing the spinners, Siddarth went for the wide sweep. When on 5, he slog-swept leg-spinner Pradhyumn Parikh. The delivery was pitched outside off-stump but luckily for Siddarth, Bhargav Merai dropped the chance at covers.
That’s when the shouts of “Nambunga da, nambunga da” (trust yourself) began. Those were not without reasons. Siddarth, one of the bright prospects, is lanky and uses his feet to spinners. But unlike Indrajith, he doesn’t prefer to take forward strides to defend against tweakers or to smother the turn. Instead, he prefers to play from the crease, often off the back-foot. On such tracks, with variable bounce, it is a suicidal plan, as chances of being bowled or LBW remained a constant threat.
But that dropped catch was what Siddarth needed. “When Bhargav dropped my catch, I felt that it was a wake-up call for me. I had to stay till the end because it was not an easy wicket to bat on. I felt this knock gave me immense confidence going into the next game because this was one of my best knocks,” he said of his unbeaten 56 off 128.
While the 50-run stand calmed TN’s nerves, Indrajith’s dismissal was a setback.
The target was only 40 runs away, but such is the fragile nature of this TN line-up, it still seemed daunting. Shortly, Pradosh Ranjan Paul went for an expansive reverse-sweep and ended up getting trapped in front as Railways sniffed an unlikely win.
But thankfully for TN, Siddarth and Vimal brought the assurance they badly sought. The lofted shots were cut out. Out came the defence and the prods with singles and twos being the preferred safety route. But this was an innings, that once again showed the downside of TN batsmen entering Ranji on the back of First Division cricket.
Such tracks, or even worse ones, are common in the Chennai circuit. So these are not alien to the batsmen. But even in those games, the batsmen hardly put on big scores. Their innings on such tracks are often a lottery, so taking an aggressive route is what they choose, which means they seldom trust their defence to play solid knocks. “At first, I wanted to take on the bowling because the wicket was kind of tricky. But after some time, Indrajith anna, Yo Mahesh anna – everyone just seemed to play normally and they found that my normal game was much suitable than, you know, trying to go and attack with reckless shots,” Siddarth added.
Placed in Elite Group D, the two successive home wins give TN a cushion. With Mumbai off to a strong start and hunting for a third straight innings win, which would make them favourites to qualify, TN can fancy themselves to finish second in the group.
Brief scores: Railways 184 & 108 (R Sai Kishore 4/39) lost to TN 165 & 130/5 (Andre Siddarth 53 n.o; Toufik Uddin Mondal 4/50). Pts: TN 6, Railways 0.