Spate of draws hurt TN

Chennai:  Tamil Nadu are counting the cost of a dreadful Ranji Trophy campaign. The knives are out for a post-mortem. Not reaching the quarterfinals represents an abject failure for Raman and Co.

Any other inference would be unjustified. Tamil Nadu do have the best league in the country but the team hasn’t progressed to the quarterfinal stage for the second year in succession.
A four-run defeat against Bengal in a must-win match at Chepauk has put an end to Tamil Nadu’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage.

Efforts to portray Tamil Nadu as gallant losers — because the Bengal result was the only reverse in eight matches — wouldn’t pass muster when it is revealed that the state won only a solitary match. A team with six draws isn’t great advertisement for adventurism.  

The 40+ averages of the top-order in eight matches, double tons for a few, the rescue act of R. Prasanna, R. Malolan’s all-round excellence and Rahil S. Shah’s rich harvest on turning tracks will make good reading only if the team had progressed to the next stage.

But cricket is a team game and there is nothing to crow about for one of the ‘pre-eminent state’ after eight matches of a dire season.

Former Tamil Nadu and India wicketkeeper Bharath Reddy said that there was no proper planning. “The team didn’t go in with the right combination. There were too many factors that led to the poor show. If you want to prepare a turning track, then someone should have supervised it properly. They created their own pit.

“Quite a few players have taken their place for granted. One can’t try to get into good batting form by playing the Ranji Trophy. You should be at your peak when you represent the state and play for glory. If the team had wanted to go for a win throughout the season, they should have scored the runs at a fair clip. There was no intent from the batsmen,” he added.

“No doubt the team was good. But there were too many tinkering until the very end. The pacers other than L. Balaji were played as if it was a merry-go-round. Finally, someone should have taken some responsibility,” said the 59-year-old.

P.C. Prakash, 52, the current TNCA academy batting coach, said that the team hadn’t failed collectively as a unit. “We were not winning matches and it made a difference. Our batsmen didn’t make use of the conditions that suited their style. They should have scored at a brisk rate and given our inexperienced bowling unit the extra time as well the extra runs to bowl the opposition out twice.”

“Prasanna is the only batsman in the season to have put his hand up and delivered the goods when it mattered the most. The rest missed out,” said the former TN cricketer.

S. Vasudevan, the last Tamil Nadu captain to have lifted the Ranji Trophy, rued the missed opportunities.  “We should have won against Services, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. We missed the trick against the trio.

“Against Rajasthan at home, one can’t lose five wickets for less than 100 runs batting first. Tamil Nadu lost the plot on day one itself. Batting has always been our strength for many years. In the 1988 Ranji final, we scored 700-odd runs batting second on a turning pitch at home. The huge total helped us register an innings victory against Railways,” he added.

Vasudevan, a bowling coach at the TNCA academy, concurred with Prakash and said that it was batting that had let the team down on conditions they had been familiar with. “One must laud the young TN spinners for the way they bowled throughout the season,” he added.