Massive win for Tamil Nadu
Aushik Srinivas scalps five as J&K batsmen come a cropper
Aushik Srinivas scalped five for 12 as Jammu & Kashmir capitulated for 131 in its second innings on the third day to hand a massive 277-run win to Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy Group A match here on Tuesday.
J&K had been set a target of 409 after the host had declared its second innings at 286 for five an hour before lunch.
L. Balaji gave the first breakthrough for Tamil Nadu when he bowled Adil Reshi out. Bandeep Singh was caught at short leg off Malolan Rangarajan and the visitors went to lunch at 39 for two.
Opener Shubham Khajuria (60, 4x6) and Ian Dev Singh steadied the ship with a 55-run partnership for the third wicket before Ian Dev was caught at slip, playing forward to a ball with extra bounce from Rahil Shah, leaving J&K at 93 for three.
Captain Parveez Rasool played an injudicious shot, like in the first innings, lofting Aushik only to be caught by Baba Indrajith at mid-on. Shubham Khajuria was caught at slip off Rahil.
Hardeep Singh, who stood out for his gritty knock in the first innings, did not last long. Rahil changed the angle to over the wicket to have him spoon a catch to mid-on. Aushik Srinivas wrapped up the tail to finish with figures of five for 12 in 10 overs. J&K lost its last eight wickets for 38 runs between lunch and tea.
R. Prasanna, captain of the Tamil Nadu team was a relieved man with the win. “We were a little nervous ahead of the match as we did not open our account. It is nice to get six points as we are a good side and the performance against Karnataka was not up to the mark. We decided to play more aggressively as we were too slow against Karnataka. Malolan’s knock was very crucial as he played his natural game. A total of 150 became 254 because of him.”
J&K coach Sunil Joshi was livid with the pitch. “It’s not a sporting wicket. I thought the match would finish in two days. Surprised it went into the third day. Tamil Nadu batsmen played well on this pitch and I do not want to take any credit away from them. They know how to play on this pitch. Unfortunately this pitch does not give us the home advantage that we want. We should have had a say in the preparation of the pitch.”
Malolan Rangarajan received the Man-of-the-Match award while Abhinav Mukund received an award for scoring the first century at this venue.
Balaji was presented with a ball for completing 100 first class matches, while Aushik Srinivas received the same for his five-wicket haul.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 254.
Jammu & Kashmir — 1st innings: 132.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: Kaushik Gandhi c Bandeep Singh b Samiullah Beigh 28, Abhinav Mukund c Obaid Haroon b Umar Nazir 137, B. Aparajith b Umar Nazir 73, Dinesh Karthik (not out) 24, B. Indrajith c Hardeep Singh b Parveez Rasool 5, Malolan Rangarajan c Hardeep Singh b Waseem Raza 0, R. Prasanna (not out) 3; Extras (b-12, lb-1, w-2, nb-1): 16; Total (for five wkts. decl. in 69 overs): 286.
Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-243, 3-262, 4-271, 5-272.
Jammu & Kashmir bowling: Parveez Rasool 21-1-68-1, Waseem Raza 17-1-77-1, Samiullah Beigh 14-1-58-1, Manik Gupta 5-0-28-0, Umar Nazir 12-1-42-2.
Jammu & Kashmir — 2nd innings: Shubham Khajuria c Baba Indrajith b Rahil Shah 60, Adil Reshi b Balaji 9, Bandeep Singh c Kaushik Gandhi b Malolan Rangarajan 11, Ian Dev Singh c Abhinav Mukund b Rahil Shah 31, Parveez Rasool c Baba Indrajith b Aushik Srinivas 0, Hardeep Singh c Balaji b Rahil Shah 12, Manik Gupta c Kaushik Gandhi b Aushik Srinivas 1, Obaid Haroon (not out) 1, Waseem Raza c Baba Aparajith b Aushik Srinivas 4, Samiullah Beigh c U. Sushil b Aushik Srinivas 0, Umar Nazir b Aushik Srinivas 0; Extras (b-1, nb-1): 2; Total (in 44 overs): 131.
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-38, 3-93, 4-95, 5-115, 6-120, 7-126, 8-131, 9-131.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Balaji 4-0-14-1, Rahil Shah 21-6-64-3, Malolan Rangarajan 9-0-40-1, Aushik Srinivas 10-5-12-5.
Man-of-the-Match: Malolan.
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