Rajasthan blues for woeful TN
Jan. 4: Continuing with their obdurate ways, Rajasthan laboured to 483/5 in 175 overs at the end of the second day against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy semi-finals here on Tuesday.
Hrishikesh Kanitkar (64 off 144 balls, 8x4) and Ashok Menaria (88 off 159 balls, 9x4, 2x6), infused life in the final session by showing urgency with their methods as the hosts travelled towards their target of batting the visitors out of the match. The unbroken fifth wicket stand is worth 95 runs.
Mystery deepened on methods adopted by Dinesh Karthik when he chose to start proceedings with the leg spin of Abhinav Mukund. Fortunately it turned out to be a one-over spell to find luck and L. Balaji got night watchman Vivek Yadav, fending a short ball on leg stump to the wicket keeper.
Buoyed by the early success, Balaji and R. Suthesh showed improved control over line and length and importantly hit the seam often. Suthesh was unlucky not to find the edge after beating the bat on numerous occasions.
There was no urgency from Aakash Chopra and with Robin Bisht new at the crease, the situation presented the best chance for Tamil Nadu to claw their way back into the game. The field positioning at this stage lacked logic, and singles were allowed easily as the batsmen started rotating strike at ease.
Chopra, in search of a massive score went into a shell when Sunil Sam got one to straighten and found the outside edge when the opener closed the bat early. R.R. Parida drove Sam straight to covers as Rajasthan looked lost for the first time in five sessions.
Scores: Rajasthan 483/5 in 175 ovs (Aakash Chopra 136, Hrishikesh Kanitkar batting 64, Ashok Menaria batting 88; Sunil Sam 2/80) vs Tamil Nadu.
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