Ranji Trophy Elite Group B: Tamil Nadu play out tame draw against Delhi

CHENNAI: Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore deceived Delhi’s lower order with his guile to pick up five wickets as Tamil Nadu drew their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B clash at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.

The hosts declared at 113/1 in 40 overs in their second innings. The match was subsequently called off after tea. Narayan Jagadeesan notched up an unbeaten 59 for Tamil Nadu. Abhinav Mukund could not open the innings due to fever and Baba Aparajith took his place to make 33.

Tamil Nadu got three points for bagging the first-innings lead, and ended their season at the second last spot on the table with 15 point. Delhi got just one point and ended their campaign at the bottom with 14 points.

Earlier, Delhi were dismissed for 336, with overnight centurion Jonty Sidhu remaining unbeaten on 140.
Sai Kishore, a key spinner for Tamil Nadu this season, believes that their bowling unit could have done better. “I’m happy to get five wickets today, but not elated as it did not help us qualify for the knockouts.”
“We did not show enough character and allowed partnerships to blossom. Even in this game, Delhi were 142/6. But we allowed a huge stand to materialise. We let Bengal off the hook too, when we should have applied the brakes. I personally take the responsibility for not finishing the job. It  has been my first full season and I have learnt a lot. I wish to perform better in the future.”

Indrajith, in his first stint as Tamil who is leading the state for the first time, admitted that it has been tough year for him, and hoped to iron out the flaws next season. 
“We have a lot of things to learn and work upon. We have to  start our preparation for the next year very early,” said Indrajith.

“Our bowling unit has kept changing. But our batsmen had the skill to perform, but didn’t to their potential. Yes, new players are settling in. Sai Kishore played a good number of games for the first time. So did (M) Mohammed. (T) Natarajan came back from an injury, so our bowling kept changing, and was a little inexperienced. But our batsmen have played at this level before. I expected better performances from everyone.”

On the other hand, Delhi coach Mithun Manhas saw a lot of positives for his team from this year’s campaign.

“Our team is in transition. Quite a few youngsters have done well. Our bowlers have talent. We need to perform more consistently; bowl in the right areas and at the right lengths. With some seniors likely to play in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, we’re looking forward to a better performance.”
Brief scores

Elite Group B: In Nadaun: Himachal Pradesh 297 & 285/8 decl lost to Kerala 286 & 299/5 (Manoharan 96, Sachin 92, Samson 61 n.o). Pts: Kerala: 6, Himachal Pradesh: 0. In Chennai: Tamil Nadu 432 & 113/1 decl (Jagadeesan 59) drew with Delhi 336 (Sidhu 140 n.o, Lalit 91; Sai Kishore 5/90). Pts: Tamil Nadu: 3, Delhi: 1.