We still hope for a positive result: Vignesh

Within a year of making his first-class debut, Tamil Nadu fast bowler K Vignesh has assumed the role of pace spearhead with an incredible average of 22.16 and an equally impressive strike rate of 47.8. With such a stellar bowling CV, it comes as a surprise to see his labour coupled with an aptitude for head-hunting not fetching him his expected share of spoils against Odisha on the penultimate day of the Group C Ranji Trophy match at Cuttack.

Since his breathtaking debut, where he accounted for nine Mumbai batsmen, there wouldn’t have been many occasions where he would have found himself in the discomfiting scenario of an errant child explaining himself for not doing his homework. But, on Saturday, he was put on the spot after his 22-over spell, though tidy as always, couldn’t do the necessary damage in the way that is expected of him.

“There is nothing much that I did wrong. I bowled like I always do. It’s not always possible to take wickets and credit should also go to the Odisha batsmen who were intent on defending rather than going for their shots. Given the circumstances, I think we bowled well,” said the 23-year-old.

The situation TN is in is far from ideal when you look through the prism of its qualification hopes which are hanging ever more tenuously with each passing hour.

But the players have not given in to desolation yet, says Vignesh. “The first thing we need to do is get them out early without giving away too many runs.

They still need to score a lot of runs. We haven’t decided whether to enforce the follow-on in order to press for an outright win,” remarked Vignesh.