The day Sachin Tendulkar won it alone

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The Tamil Nadu side that lost the Ranji Trophy semi-final in April 2000 was easily one of the most talented and one that should have won the coveted trophy.

A finely balanced unit, TN, under Robin Singh, had everything a team could aspire for. From quality all-rounders to an experienced top-order, the visitors had it all. They looked good for a victory but a certain Mumbaikar promised his coach Ashok Mankad that he will get the job done.

Sachin Tendulkar has shown the same pride when turning out for Mumbai, that he does while donning the national cap. No wonder Tendulkar treasures his unbeaten 233 (565m, 334b, 21x4, 5x6) and victory over Tamil Nadu as his biggest Ranji moment.

“It was easily one of the best knocks I have seen in the game, just not Ranji Trophy. The turnout was massive and Sachin was in no mood to accept defeat inspite of the odds being stacked heavily against Mumbai. I would be lying if I say we did not enjoy his batting,” recounted former Indian opener S. Ramesh.

For one of the finest fielders TN has produced, JR Madanagopal will always be remembered for putting down a relatively simple chance offered by Tendulkar off S. Mahesh.

“It was a simple chance but too much was made out of it. I was unable to sleep for a few weeks. When you drop Tendulkar you know it is a huge mistake but it is not fair when people refer to that all the time,” said Madan.

By Ten-dulkar’s own admission, there was little he noticed on what was going through at the other end during the tense moments where Mumbai had to score in excess of 40 runs with two wickets in hand. “The competition was so fierce and intense I did not realise that both Kuruvilla and Saxena had not scored a run during the partnerships,” Tendulkar had said recently.

Hemang Badani who scripted a brilliant hundred in that game cannot forget the fire in Tendulkar during the nervy chase. “Even when not looking for runs, he was hitting the ball so hard to long-on and long-off that the fingers were stung. He wanted to prove a point and he did,” said Badani.

However the entire TN team was convinced that the master blaster was out at least on two occasions during his heroic effort. Unfortu- nately the score sheet will have no mention of that.

For Sada-gopan Mahesh it will always be a match where he was so close yet so far. “Sachin had hit a monstrous six off my slower delivery and at the end of days play advised me that I should have persisted with my yorkers than go for change of pace. I was stunned by the man who was willing to offer advice even when the match was hanging in balance,” noted Mahesh.

Only Badani and S. Sriram are active first-class cricketers from the TN 11 that suffered under Tendulkar 11 seasons ago while DJ Gokulakrishnan is the bowling coach of the current TN side. The master however is still going strong and in touching distance of his 100th international hundreds.

Tendulkar has inflicted misery on many international side but the scars he left at the Wankhede that day continues to rankle followers of the game in Tamil Nadu till date.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 485 in 121.4 overs (S. Ramesh 44, HK Badani 162, Robin Singh 183, A. Agarkar 4/83, S. Saxena 3/91) & 171 in 54.1 overs (HK Badani 63, Reuben Paul 46) lost to Mumbai 490 in 152 overs (SS Dighe 55, Sachin Tendulkar 233, VG Kambli 75, AA Mazumdar 47, S. Mahesh 3/105, AR Kapoor 3/93) & 169/2 in 44.4 overs (SS Dighe 73, J. Paranjpe 55*).