CHENNAI: Vice-captain Andre Siddarth’s unbeaten 56 ensured that Tamil Nadu secured six points, holding its nerve in a tricky run chase in the Ranji Trophy Group D encounter against Railways here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.
Earlier, Ajith Ram didn’t waste too much time before snaffling up the last wicket to bowl Railways out for 108, leaving Tamil Nadu with a target of 128. SR Athish opened the innings at the expense of Vimal Khumar. Jagadeesan endured a rough outing, a 34-ball 12, getting out bowled for the second time to off-spinner Toufik Mondal.
However, Athish showed a lot of batting ability during his brief stay at the crease, with a 48-ball 21 where he hit two boundaries including a reverse sweep and a straight drive. But his aggressive approach failed soon after when he holed out to the deep fielder Zubair Ali, leaving TN in a bit of bother at 37/2. Sonu Yadav’s promotion backfired, as Baba Indrajith and Andre Siddarth needed to rescue TN at 39/3.
Indrajith played an experienced hand while Siddarth’s adventurous start nearly cost him dearly when he looped one into the hands of opposition skipper Bhargav Merai. Fortunately for TN, Merai dropped the catch, as the pair put on a patient 50-run partnership, coming off 146 balls – with the hosts motoring on at 89/3.
But soon after lunch, the off-spinner Mondal returned to give Sai Kishore’s side a big scare when he removed a well-set Indrajith (23) and Pradosh Ranjan Paul (1) in the span of two overs. With 39 runs required for a win, the responsibility was now on the shoulders of Siddarth to shepherd the run chase alongside Vimal Khumar who walked into this innings on the back of two ducks, and he was quite shaky.
Vimal was applauded when he finally got off the mark after 17 deliveries, evoking memories of Rahul Dravid’s famously painstaking first run after 41 deliveries. Once the nerves eased, the two guided Tamil Nadu to a five-wicket win, with Siddarth applying finishing touches with a four through the off-side.
Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 165 all-out & 130/5 in 59.1 overs (Siddarth 56no, Indrajith 23; Mondal 4/50) beats Railways 184 & 108 all-out in 52.3 overs (Yuvraj 42; Kishore 4/39) by five wickets
TN 6 points, total: 14 points