Ranji trophy: Final apart, good effort by TN

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Sports can be unsympathetic at times and the Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy team would have realised this by now.

A postmortem will reveal many flaws but what cannot be taken away from L. Balaji and his men is that they maximised potential. At the start of the season there were few backers for TN but they proved what commitment can bring about.

The team cannot take solace from the fact that Rajasthan won the match the moment they called right at the toss. However the wicket (if one can call it that) prepared for the final provided too many trumps for the team batting first.

Having said that the TN top order should have showed more grit during the chase. The match was lost on the third evening when batsmen caved to a fuller length. To play across or rush into their strokes early was an elementary error on a slow pitch.

Full credit to Aushik Srinivas for toiling manfully. The youngster will do better if he can bowl at the stumps. Something he did admirably on the second day of the final. The attack as a unit was good barring the final. L. Balaji’s handling of his bowlers was exemplary. What looked like the weak link actually turned out to be the strength of the side.

J. Kaushik and V Yo Mahesh gave it their best and there is a lot to look forward to from the duo in the coming seasons. Mahesh’s effort with the bat was a refreshing addition.

As an all-rounder Mahesh covers two bases making it easy for the captain to field a balanced team.

The batting might never showcased itself fully, it was a bit of start and stop effort but R. Prasanna’s sincere methods at the crease was the biggest positive to have emerged during this campaign. K. Shri Vasudeva Das wasted another opportunity to fulfill all his promise. An average of 35.20 after 32 first-class throws more questions than answers.

For the first time ever, TN put it past their long time nemesis — Mumbai in a knockout match. The think tank should take things forward from here by showing more confidence in youngsters.

The biggest error though was allowing the chairman of selectors to carry on as a BCCI match referee. And a serious rethink is required on the multiple coach theory as well. All said and done it was a fine effort on the field. The brickbats can wait.