Matter of time before Ashwin gets going, says Kanitkar

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu lost almost two precious days due to rain and bad light. The Ranji Trophy game against Tripura ended in a dull draw, with the hosts getting three points and the visitors one. It’s not the start they had wanted, considering that a point was all they got from the previous outing against Andhra. “We had a good chance to win. We were in a good position and then we lost two days,” rued Tamil Nadu coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar. Tamil Nadu’s batting looked good, but what does the coach think of the the way the four spinners performed. “The pitch was good. It was not a wicket where you could turn it square. They (spinners) did a good job. Had we had a full game, we could have pulled it off,” he said.

One expected R Ashwin, with his experience, to run through the Tripura line-up, which did not happen. “As far as Ashwin goes, I don’t think there’s anything about off-spin I can tell him that he doesn’t know. Those guys (Tripura’s Smit Patel and Yashpal Singh) played well, the pitch was good. Today there was a little bit of bite and you could see the difference. Ashwin is bowling well. It’s a matter of time before he start s dominating.” Tamil Nadu take on Mumbai, then Odisha. “The next four games will be tough, but it’s the same for all. If we play at our best, we can win outright.”

Playing Mumbai in Mumbai will be tough. Conditions will be different from Chepauk. A spinner could be sacrificed for a seamer. “We have to see the wicket. If required we will add a seamer. Vijay Shankar will join the team. So we have options,’’ said Kanitkar. Tamil Nadu lost to Mumbai twice last year. “It’s a new day when we meet. When we lost to them in Rohtak, it was a very close game. In Rajkot we were on top at one point and then let the game slip. We always assume Mumbai will be in top form. It can happen that we play better than them and they catch up with us,” Kanitkar said.

DAY’S WRAP

Group A: In Mysuru: Assam 145 & 203 (Gokul 66, Mithun 3/47, Vinay Kumar 4/31, K
Goutham 3/39) lost to Karnataka 469/7 decl. Pts: Karnataka 7, Assam 0. In Hyderabad:
Pts: Hyderabad 1, Uttar Pradesh 1 (match abandoned)
Group B: In Nadiad: Kerala 208 & 203 lost to Gujarat 307 & 108/6 (Panchal 30, Saxena
2/16, Akshay Chandran 2/37). Pts: Gujarat 6 Kerala 0.
Group C: In Chennai: Tripura 258 & 91/3 drew with Tamil Nadu 357/4 decl (Washington
159, Abhinav 76, Indrajith 89). Pts: Tamil Nadu 3, Tripura 1. In Vadodara: Baroda 373 &
195/6 (Waghmode 56, Solanki 68, Swapnil 50 n.o) drew with Andhra 554 (Hanuma Vihari
150, Bhui 145, Sumanth 86, Sheth 5/91). Pts: Andhra 3, Baroda 1.

ashok.v@newindianexpress.com