Must-win match for TN against MP in Ranji Trophy

TN has meandered and teetered its way to the brink of an ignominious exit in the group stage ahead of its penultimate game against Madhya Pradesh beginning on Friday at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. Tamil Nadu currently sits at fourth in the group and only the teams finishing in the top two will advance to quarterfinals. 

Years and decades are consigned to the pages of history books, but the increasingly worrying trend of its collective objective remaining unfulfilled remains fresh in everyone’s memory as after four rounds in the current season TN has painted itself into a remote corner accumulating a measly total of eight points. All the four matches have failed to produce a result and the usual ritual of going back to the ‘draw’ing board desperately looking for that one quick fix that will salve its wounded pride hasn’t quite worked its magic.

All this has resulted in things coming to a pretty pass with just two matches remaining for TN to revive what has looked a doomed campaign from the beginning. It hasn’t helped that the weather too has deprived it of claiming a win against Tripura at home last month. And with rains battering the state, the last two fixtures against Madhya Pradesh and Baroda have been shifted out of Chennai, again divesting it of whatever little home advantage it would have wanted to capitalise on.

But for that one away contest against the 41-time champion Mumbai, where the team from south demonstrated great resolve in seizing the first innings lead, there has been nothing much for it to glorify in. Its failure to pummel the whipping boys of the group, Odisha, into submission after an impressive batting effort will prove costly, even before the specks of dust settles on yet another season bereft of joie de vivre. While there is still a mathematical possibility of qualifying for the knockout’s, TN would have ideally not wanted to leave it till the eleventh hour and rely on other results going its way. The match against MP is Tamil Nadu’s last chance saloon for a shot at redemption.