Sachin thrills, Jaffer responds

Day Two, Ranji Trophy 2008-09 Semifinals, Mumbai vs Surashtra and Tamil Nadu v Uttar Pradesh

Mumbai vs Saurashtra - First Semifinal

Scoreboard

Sachin Tendulkar is having a match-simulation net. But the beauty of the man is such that he can make even a knock in the nets look like art. That's not a willow he wields, it is a brush and he is painting a three-dimensional masterpiece for us all.

Look at the youngsters like Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara rolling their arms over...true they are trying but do they look like guys who want to end the master's creative surge? Not to me...they are lining up to bowl to Sachin so that they can understand better the angles and possibilities from the best position in the ground. They'd be keen to incorporate this knowledge into their own game. You can see it in their eyes!

As Sachin began playing 360 degrees along all three axis, Jaffer felt prompted and emboldened. He began to emulate some leg-side strokes of the master and his score began to chug along a little. He got to his 250, almost was taken caught and bowled...difficult, but expected chance towards the right of the bowler and now has his sights fixed on 501 and has suitably hauled in his enthusiasm, preferrring to let the master fire his team's scoring rate up.

Wasim Jaffer does indeed get these beautiful urges once in a while...you have to pinch yourself to remind that this is only Ranji, a flat deck, very mediocre bowling...mainly spin, his team is some 500 plus for two wickets and there is the master on the other side disallowing any clustering of pressure - it is then, having pinched onself to the reality, that one realizes what a sophisticated and elegant Ranji dada Jaffer is. This is his environment, he straddles it like a dinosaur once straddled land masses, the complete and real emperor of this world. We will leave the asteroid theory of international cricket aside for the moment and simply enjoy the magnificience of such over overwhelming domination.

There is beauty in the way he lifts that front foot and places it emphatically forward and brings his mobile instruments of head and arms in one line over the ball. The alertness to defend in all the euphoria leaves one awestruck at the man's focus. At times even Sachin pales for correctness...he almost looks like a teen rebel at the other side.

At last call, Jaffer is 291 not out and Sachin 122 playing. Mumbai are just a hundred or so off the minimum 700 1st innings plan...558 for 2.

Just as I say that, Sachin retires hurt (reportedly having fever) to give Amol Mazumdar a hit. Didn't this chap retire?

Let's sit back and enjoy.

- - -

Makes you also wonder and helps put things in perspective - a champion team like Mumbai, endowed with brilliant riches, steeped in cricketing culture, 37 times winner, where certain cricket-playing qualities are engraved into your chromosomes by high preists, to be passed on from one generation to another in burgeoning flux of natural selection...such a team, Mumbai, shuddres to declare with 564 on the board already and bowlers like Zak (India's no. 1 and ICC Top Ten bowler), Kulkarni, Powar in their ranks! It is said that the standard and competitiveness of play will rise if stars play....they will infuse the positive culture they learn from international cricket...yougsters will learn to win a match from any sitaution...Amazing! It truly is an amazing statement by the Mumbai intenationals and perhaps points to two dangers - 1) Cheteshwar Pujara...1 = 11 and 2) highlights the trepidation Mumbai bowlers are feeling at the thought of bowling on this wicket. No confidence....

- - -

Mazumdar scratched around and perished to a set up by B Jadeja bowling at a max speed of 109 kph. Start with bowling out of his reach...let him feel tempted to lean out and then start narrowing the width...Bingo! here was the nick and taken. Gone for 2.

Rohit Sharma gave the customary chance which wasn't taken by the keeper this time.

And then Wasim Jaffer achieves one step of his milestone quest - 300 up! Well played young man!

Saurashtra must question their philosophy - they came not believeing they could pressure the Mumbai batsmen...they played that way from about over number 8 or 9 of the innings. They did not even attempt to create an aura of pressure. Not Mumbai's fault the way te game is evolving at a snail's pace towards the eventual first innings lead business.

Jaffer is out! Caught fff the splice of a lazily elegant turn of the wrists off a half-cock forward foot by the bowler Dhruv, on is follow through. He's played that shor a zillion times this innings and profited. But not that time. So that's the end of a marathon innings. Like I said before, well played young man!

Abhishek Nayar is next in.

Meanwhile...

Tamil Nadu v Uttar Pradesh: Second Semifinal at Nagpur

Scorecard

Uttar Pradesh with a better attack and more purpose came back to hit hard on the second day. They have halted a Mumbai-like march by Tamil Nadu and have them at 435 for 9 at the moment of typing. ALL UP bowlers, except Piyush Chawla, have taken wickets...yes, including Suresh Raina in his bowling avatar.

Vidyut comes a cropper again when his team needs him to play and the middle order evaporates till some resistance lower down. The same patters as their quarter final match against Bengal.

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A Sad Comment: Ranji Trophy 2008-09 Semifinals

Day One, Ranji Trophy 2008-09 Semifinals, Mumbai vs Surashtra and Tamil Nadu v Uttar Pradesh

The Ranji Trophy is the premier domestic tournament of Indian cricket. All the short-cut avenues available these days notwithstanding, this tournament continues to remain as the main to sift, identify and hone cricketing talent in this country. Therefore it deserves a degree of committment from the association members hosting a match as well as from the BCCI itself, being the overseer of the game in India. At the very least at least the final three matches at the pinnacle should definitely merit more better preparations than what we saw yesterday.

I didn't watch the match at Nagpur between Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh for there wasn't any telecast, but one watched almost the entire day's play at Chennai between Mumbai and Saurashtra. So I'll curtail my complaints to this match only and leave it for bigger news corporations to talk about Nagpur for they must have a reporter present at the ground.

Mumbai vs Saurashtra - First Semifinal

Scoreboard

When you see 39 overs bowled in the first session of the first day of a match, you know immediately that something's terribly wrong. Either with the bowling attack on display or, more likely, a clear condemnation of the pitch provided.

Admittedly, Saurashtra's bowling resources were pretty thin - it is a wonder that they managed to edge out other teams predominantly with their batting - but even these scarce resources in the form of medium pace of Jobanputra and BN Jadeja were quickly neutered by the most sixth dayish pitch seen on the first day of any match.

There was red dust flying off each time the ball landed on it, rarely did the ball rise above the knee level, and pretty soon the spinners were on midway through the first session of the match itself! For god's sake, this is the Ranji semifinal! For god's sake this is supposed to be Chennai - once known as the fastest and sportiest pitch of the country.

Being a regular and favoured test centre, it has had more matches in recent years than other centers could dream of. So there is no dearth of money here..no dearth of equipment...no dearth of consultative expertise. in pitch preparation. It is not a stepchild like Ferozeshah Kotla to the BCCI!

But I think it is BCCI which is to blame for not penaliing those not adhering to certain minimum norms. Just when we were beginning to think that India was producing sporty, faster pitches as part of their policy to prepare cricketers tuned to international needs - we saw that right through the turn of this millenium upto 2007-08 - since 2007-08 we are finding that that checks and balance system has been given up. Nobody adheres to any standards of pitch preparation now, nobody takes action...there is almost a covert consent by BCCI to revert to unprepared deadbeat dustbowls. Does it have anything to do with their desire to fasttrack India's climb up the ICC rankings? Recall the SA tour of India?

Well, it was in this scenario that a rather popgunnish attack of Saurashtra kept giving net practice to Mumbai. You could see there was no attempt to take any wickets even if the bowlers hadn't any skill and everyone was waiting already for Mumbai to eventually declare - perahps on the third day after some 700-800 runs have been scored. There were some spirited attempts....a wicket was taken, a few dropped short and there was one really good shout for caught behind when Jaffer was on 58...that rounded off the bowling excitement as spinner after left arm spinner wheeled away with no conviction or purpose.

The Mumbai batting mirrored the bowling and we saw the Ranji collossus - Wasim Jaffer - exhibit yet again how totally dominant and demoralizing he can be. He is impenetrably attritional at Ranji level and never seduced by the most batsman-friendly of circumstances either. He reads his own game...I began twitching and switched often to the RSA v Australia test match going on.

And then you look at the scoreboard at the end of the day and realize that when it says 268/1 it is actually saying tha 1) while Mumbai have probably batted Saurashtra out of this game (and Mumbai have better bowlers too now) 2) Saurashtra did the best they could under the circumstances and did brilliantly to hold Mumbai to under 3 runs per over. Such was the lethargic, uninspiring batsmanship which began as an eager Sunday. No doubt it was safe and secure, but it was more an effort which banked upon their own bowlers troubling the Saurashtra batting than the batsmanship applying any rattling pressure on the opposition.

No...no one asks for T20 or 50-50 scoring rates...but this was a no-threats pitch and a no-threats bowling attack. You must get tired of playing like a superwall to knee high hittable balls. Maybe only Sachin has license to play that way and still be considered a great in Mumbai circles. Most will have to be that dour, well-dressed, grinding out kind of batsman to merit any consideration as a propah batsman in Mumbai circles. They call it "professionalism", or something like that.

I have some time today - work later in the day today - I'm not sure I would like to see more of yesterday repeated. So till Pujara appears and sloshes Zak all over Chennai in yet another spirited fightback, I'll probably give viewing this Ranji encounter a miss. The Mumbai batting is too strong for the very mediocre bowling of Saurashtra on a even more mediocre pitch. the competitiveness will be when Saurashtra bats and Mumbai bowls. The pitch might crumble by then and true batsmanship may come to the fore. Till then, my suggestion is that each should go about their work.

Let us examine some news reports:

The PTI wire as it is adapted onto Cricketnext.com, goes something like this in patches -

On a batting paradise, Jaffer didn't hesitate to bat first and the Mumbai skipper, along with Samant and Rahane, milked the Saurashtra attack dry.

Among the hapless Saurashtra bowlers, Ravindra Jadeja did try his best but his brand of left-arm spin could not pose much threat to the set Mumbai batsmen.

Cricinfo spins it thus -

On a batting paradise, Wasim Jaffer hit his fourth ton of the season to charge Mumbai to a healthy position

.....

The ball came on nicely to the bat on a pitch that is expected to turn from the third day and Jaffer made full use of the good batting conditions. It was a typical Jaffer knock, full of wristy flicks and back-foot punches. There were sashays down the track against the left-arm spinners and sweeps against the offspinner.

Somebody please kick the BCCI fat backsides for allowing such paradises.


Tamil Nadu v Uttar Pradesh: Second Semifinal at Nagpur

Scorecard

I'm sorry but we only have hearsay to bank upon. there wasn't any telecast for this match.

Uttra Pradesh on paper is a stronger bowling side than Saurashtra even if RP Singh was not playing, but Tamil Nadu has been in some form this season.

It appears from reports that UP bowling was untesting, the pitch situation quite similar to the Chennai one, and unsurprisingly, the two form batsmen of the season, Mukund and Vijat took a toll of the UP attack.

Praveen Kumar appears to have lost his mojo since he was involved in some Meerut altercation. Maybe he needs to really earn his way back like Sreesanth and the VRV and co.

Piyush Chawla's performance confirmed my views of him. I'll be wary of saying more since I didn't see him bowl in this match, but he doesn't appear to understand the fundamental flaw in is bowling system which prevents him from being more effective. And his attitude appears to be such ( from what one sees from a distance of course )that he is not given to introspection and analysis of his game strengths and weaknesses. I've spoken long about him at TCWJ and elsewhere and the figures and bulletin I have in front of me suggest more of the same...

Siddharth Monga writes for Cricinfo as follows -

UP's bowlers lacked inspiration and the persistence to toil. They will need to find both for what looks like a long haul.

....

But Piyush Chawla was too inconsistent, and Praveen Gupta too innocuous.

Well if bowling reources are thin, then it makes you wonder what transpired in earlier rounds? i asked myself the same question - how did Saurashtra dismiss any team twice to win? And if they did, how poorly the other team must have played!

But not having seen even packaged highlights of earlier rounds, best reserve comments.

For me, it's reached the stage where my only point of interest being a possible fightback by the weaker teams among the four. If BCCI prepares the same kind of pitches for next season as well, you can rest assured that the recent improvement in skills of Indian batsmen against faster and rising balls will be lost. There will be no test of any aspect of batting and batsmen (only concentration levels like breath-holding records underwater) and domestic bowlers, who need a fairer equation, will wilt or be ground to dust.

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Ranji Trophy 2008-09: Semi-finals

Tomorrow, the semi finals commence. The matches are 1) Tamil Nadu vs Uttar Pradesh and 2) Mumbai vs Saurashtra.

There is something for everybody in these matches and many players you would be keeping an eye on.

TN has Badri, Vijay, Mukund and Balaji. UP has Chawla, Raina, RP Singh and Praveen Kumar without forgetting Kaif. Mumbai will see sachin and Zak playing but the focus this year has been on Ajinkya Rahane. This is a man with a FC average of 64.90! ^Cricinfo

Saurashtra, besides Ravindra Jadeja and Jonbanputra, has the brightest young spark of Indian cricket - Cheteshwar Pujara. Now can the underdogs pull off a big scalping?

Pujara has 867 runs at 86.70 this season and Jadeja has 729 at 72.90. Jadeja also has 30 wickets at 18.61. ^Saurashtra

Rahane has 976 at 75.07 this season, Jaffer has 873 at 72.75. Dhaval Kulkarni has been the main wicket taker with 34 at 17.61.^Mumbai

Tamil Nadu has Mukund with 756 runs at 84.00, Badri with 361 at 90.25 and Balaji with 31 wickets at 16.64.^{Tamil Nadu}

Uttar Pradesh has Tanmay Srivastava with 653 at 59.36. Nothing much else and appear the weakest sheet out of all four.^{Uttar Pradesh}

Tomorrow the matches commence and Neo Sports tells us that Mumbai v Saurashtra will be on live air.

We'll join in with what's on air.

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Competition Thrives in Ranji Trophy

Ranji Trophy Super League 2008-09 - 4th quarter final, Tamil Nadu v Bengal

Scorecard


With the media emphasis gradually shifting in India to international fixtures, it was natural for domestic cricket to gradually slip out of consciousness of Indians. Unlike the County Cricket system, there isn't any provision for lay public to become members of their home team or subscribe to their state team, in return for tickets at concessional rates or preference, on an annual basis. Thus, involvement and loyalties are casualties. Also, it is often human tendency to imagine that what doesn't figure in one's consciousness cannot be of good quality.

Ranji Trophy matches have acquired the image of mediocrity and lack of competitiveness for perhaps this reason. However, it isn't all that way. Ever since the Super League and Plate system has come in, more matches have been keenly contested than ever before. Gone are the days when first innings leads satisfied players and supporters - now, it is difficult to digest anything less than a win unless it is a hard-fought draw. It is possible that the willingness of the BCCI to expose a larger pool of players to international cricket may also be an incentive besides the spin offs of IPL and improved pay/reward structure for good performances.

This quarter-final match showed how teams are willing to compete till the final ball.

At the end of day one, as we noted earlier,^{Return to..} bengal were working their way out of strife on the back of Manoj Tiwary's innings. They weren't out of the woods yet, neither were they as deep in it.

Day Two

The fall of Tiwary in the seventh over of the morning, to a clever piece of bowling by Balaji, undid Bengal's ambition of batting Tamil Nadu out of the match. After that it was a collapse and Bengal had just about enough on the board to give it an honest shot. Bengal hinges on Tiwary and to an extent, Saha.

Boy, and did they give a shot! M Vijay plays from a tall stance and likes to take the ball on the rise. If the feet move well, it looks great, otherwise it can be perilious. Without wasting much time, the canny Ranadeb Bose decided to check out the new India bat's footwork. It was found wanting and as is usual in such situations, the end result looks very lame.

Vijay has an Utthappa-ish game. However, he appeared more compact and selective than Robin in the test match innings he played. But these are all batsmen who belong to the new emerging cult of Sehwaggian openers without the body dynamics, spatial distribution and relative interactivity of their joint positions, and the weight transfer protocols of their prototype engine.

One spends some time on Vijay because he is considered a prospect for the country. These rough edges will have to be addressed by him. As matters turned out it is the same fallacy which prevented him from actualizing a century in the winning sprint later. More of that in a timely manner.


Within no time, Tamil Nadu were in trouble. Badri didn't look in it at all. Mukund was shaping up well but gave it away in a silly run-out.

Even experienced campaigners like KD playes flashily when a little bit of caution would have paid dividends. Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan did nothing to dispell the air of casualness about him. Towards the end of the day, KD went for his shots and spooned one behind him off the back of the bat trying to sweep and was done in by a beautiful catch. Somehow one felt that sweep could have waitied and KD appeared interested to get to his 50 before close.

When TN finished at 188/5, they had perhaps given away their advantage.

Third Day

Bengal stole off with the sessions. Only Suresh Kumar, an all rounder, remained between Bengal and the crucial lead. When Kumar fell to a Tiwary googly at 75, an inside edge taken, it looked like that lead could be decisively big in favour of Bengal. The tigers were right on top.

Balaji has given us some moments to smile about in the past. This day, he decided to bring the bat with which he clouted Shoaib Akhtar. But didn't he break that one? The body of it yes, the spirit being intact.

It was he with typical late-order batting falvour foisted Tamil Nadu back into the game with just an outside chance dependent on their future efforts. A small lead and time on hand.


The Match Turns

Bengal batting has been shaky and completely dependent upon Tiwary and Saha to an extent. The Jimmy Amarnath coached team of Tamil Nadu came out with the fighting spirit they have displayed this season. The first wicket was in the bag in no time at all, Ganapathy pocketing Chowdhury for nought.

Manoj Tiwary came in...a completely changed batting order (could this have upset the rhythm of Bengal?) which saw all the big guns come at the top (Saha opening)...Bengal appeared to have wrested back the momentum in their favour. Then Balaji got into his act. He picked his first of the innings in removing the threatening Saha.

R Ashwin chipped in with the most decisive wicket of all. He tempted Tiwary to sweep ( a shot which felled a few luminaries in this match) and the spliced loop was no trouble at all for Suresh Kumar. Gone for 42 and I felt then that Bengal had thrown it away.

Laxmi Shukla has lasted out the years but he isn't the kind you would readily bank upon for a match saving innings. he didn't look it but he gutsed it out to somehow keep Bengal in the game only four wickets down at close.

All the best players were expended at the top and Bengal were only a couple of wickets away from disaster. The day closed on the hunter, who now spent the night worrying as the hunted despite the lead.

Balaji Day

My good friend and fellow Ranji Chronicler, N Balajhi advised caution to my enthusiasm on seeing L Balaji swing it both ways. He was correct of course...the speed was off and all that stuff which makes you less effective on the international stage...but he was lethal today. It was as if he had a magic wand to the ball as he sliced through the Bengal order to end up with six dangerous wickets. dangerous because they tempt you to call him up for national attention. I am tempted to ignore my friend's good advice and call for more of Balaji!

Anyway, the gist of the story is the ball moved out, the ball moved in, the batsmen didn't have a clue. Not since Irfan Pathan lost it have we seen consistent swing like Balaji showed us.

Tamil Nadu won the match (and qualified for the semis in dramatic fashion) which at many times belonged to one or the other.

At the start of the season, when TN began brightly, we felt this could be a good year for them.

I am not so sure that they can dent Bombay with moments of looseness slipping into their game as it did in this match. Bombay is playing some good solid cricket.

One question, what about YoMa? Where's he?

- - -

Competition thrives in the Ranji circuit for sure. We saw it in the above match and we haven't yet touched upn Cheteshwar Pujara and Saurashtra doing a David to the Karnataka Goliath. That's because it wasn't telecast during the day. There will obviously be a separate article on that match and Pujara Power.

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Domestic Cricket Returns to the Screen

Bengal vs Tamil Nadu

Scorecard

Yesterday, I had a bit of time since noon and I took a chance with Neo Television. Running the risk of being straddled with the umpteenth replay of some past match for the effort, one was pleasantly surprised to see the "Live" tag in the right top corner of the screen. "Hold on there" one thought, "India can't be playing unless one has missed something!"

Sure enough, one was rewarded within the minute for the patience and risk; the band appeared at the bottom of the screen proclaiming the title of the match - Bengal v Tamil Nadu - and Manoj Tiwary (I haven't given up on him like the selectors) at the crease with Wriddhiman Saha. Live Ranji action was back on television! Thanks Neo...one had given up hope and something's surely better than nothing.

Keeping Riches

India is not limited to Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a wicketkeeper batsman. It has every possible combination available for the wicketkeeper-batsman's slot. If Dhoni is now a combination of passable 'keeper, improving test batsman and divine skipper, then there is KD Karthik who is a much better test batsman and a determined keeper. Then there is the evergreen Parthiv Patel, perhaps as good a batsman as KD Karthik, comparable with Dhoni in the shorter game, unfortunately perhaps a stagnated gloveman.

Shreevats Goswami is a combination of youth and promise. An attacking age-group opener and an agile keeper, this lad will be on the radar in the times ahead.

But the man who has really forced himself into public consciousness with his self-belief is Wriddhiman Saha of Bengal. Here is a batsman who is probably the best of the lot. Well, KD Karthik could be a nose ahead in the longer game stakes, but is probably the best gloveman in the country at the moment.

He comes one-down for Bengal which not only is good for the lad and must continue, but also reveals the esteem in which his team holds his batsmanship. And Bengal is no mean team in the Ranji circuit.

I settled back to watch him and one of my favorite young players, Manoj Tiwary, play.

Saha disappointed me with just a fifty even though it was in the manner I have come to expect of him. A short treat yesterday and hopefully it shall be a full course meal tomorrow to push the boys around a bit. Maybe more if he can plough through the unfortunate times for Indian 'keepers who must wait fo Dhoni to hang up his gloves.


The Forgotten Debutant

Manoj Tiwary played a gem. In fact he is still playing it. He hasn't had a great time of it since his shoulder injury did him in on the brink of a test debut in the India nets back in 2007.

Following his surgery, it has been a gradual process of recovery.

Ever since I saw him play two seasons ago (before Pujara) I felt this man must play for India in future. Perhaps as a replacement for Dravid when that time comes. He had his opportunity much sooner; in fact, soon after India's disastrous World Cup 2007. His enthusiasm during the fielding drills resulted in a fall which upset his shoulder and the rest, as they say, is history. Manoj Tiwary became history as well.

The current domestic season hasn't been too kind to him either; the requisite volume of runs were simply not there even if the averages were reasonably good. And he had just two hundreds with a top score of 109 in a season where multiple triple centuries aren't enough to get you a national call-up ( Cheteshwar Pujara). So it is in this background that the forgotten miss-debutant played this innings against the raging fashion of this season's Ranji - Tamil Nadu.

Anyone who saw him play yesterday would have been delighted - by the way he stepped forward and leaned over the ball and clipped it neatly off his toes to the mid-wicket boundary. Or with the languid precision with which he leaned back just enough, on his toes, to square cut the rising ball which perforated the space between two fielders and ended up at the point boundary. And did you see that forward defence? So correct that you could take a photograph of it if you could and post it as an example for learners and regulars alike. You mind told you he should be playing with the big boys, your head shook side-to-side suggesting that'll probably not happen anytime soon, and your heart screamed out for the lad, raging against the bad luck which dogged him at the threshold.

Yesterday's innings bore the hallmark of Manoj Tiwary - it was unmistakably his - watch out for more today as the man wants to make it a really big one this time. He had that look in his eyes and his body spoke such a language.

134 not out is where he will begin today. Pleasing as his game was yesterday, I urge connosuiers to watch him play today if they missed yesterday. Let's not forget this young man - he and Pujara are the two who must be the first replacements/inductees in the senior team.

Balaji

He still swings the ball both ways. India could use that. The pace is a bit off though and he has no wickets to show yet. Tamil Nadu would be hoping he can address that situation today.



There is plenty to look forward to in this match. The in-form TN batsmen are yet to play. And can one forget D Chakrabarty's innings yesterday? makes you wonder if the batsmen are really getting better at the domestic level or are the bowlers becoming poorer?

Bengal are still in strife - someone will have to stay long enough with Manoj Tiwary to set up a challenge to the Tamil Nadu cavaliers.

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Ranji Trophy Super league second round matches

TN vs Karnataka - Group B

The battle of the south zone begin today at Chinnaswamy stadium Bangalore. Both teams failed to make any impression at the national level in the past 2 seasons. While Karnataka's strength was dented by retirements and players on national duty, TN suffered due to ICL. TN almost pushed Maharashtra to defeat while Karnataka managed to draw despite a second innings collapse (scorecard). They also conceded first innings lead to Railways. But unlike Group A, where Mumbai and Delhi registered good wins, none of the Group B contenders registered a win in the first round of super league round robin matches.

Coming to today's match, TN put up yet another good show on day 1 after winning the toss. The triple centurion at Nashik, Abinav Munkund, fell cheaply to Vinay kumar scoring just 8 runs. TN was tottering at 51 for three after losing Mukund, Badrinath for 7 and DK for 7. But the other opener Arun Karthik, who made is debut to replace Murali Vijay, scored 149 and shared a 246 runs stand with Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan who remains unbeaten at 115. At the end day's play TN is in a good position having scored 325 for the loss 4 wickets. They however can't relax and a lot depends on Vidyut and SS Kumar. They must carry on and eye a totall 500 to be gain in dominancy in the match.

Arun Karthik is 22 and looks like an aggressive batsmen. His century came in jsut 115 balls and his 149 took only 189 deliveries. Remember he is making a debut. Vidyut is doing a good job for TN. He is more consistent nowadays. IPL outing must have helped him. Surely IPL has some benefits and the notable one is Amit Mishra.

It seems DK has forgotten how to bat. His poor form continues. Badrinath's return must bolster TN batting, though he failed today. Long journey from Nagpur and getting dropped from the ODI side, that too replaced by his under study, must have impacted him.

L.Balaji has to come good for TN to win matches, not only here but in this season.

Sunil Joshi's distinction

The veteran Sunil Joshi has joined the 8 member elite club of 400+ wicket takers in Ranji trophy. Congratulations to him for the 400th and the long service. DK is his 400th wicket while current CoS, Kris Srikkanth, was his first wicket.

Top 10 wicket takers in Ranji Trophy

1. Rajinder Goel 637
2. S Venkataraghavan 530
3. Narendra Hirwani 441
4. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar 437
5. VV Kumar 418
6. Bishan Bedi 402
7. Utpal Chatterjee 401
8. Sunil Joshi 400
9. Erapalli Prasanna 370
10. Venkatapathy Raju 367

Day 1 - Scorecard

Update - Day 2

TN ended the first innings at 531 and Karnataka were 82 for 1 at close of stumps. TN's left arm spinner Suresh picked up the lone wicket that of Chipli, who left the armer strike him plumb. Karnatak now faces a tough task of matching 531, with their skipper down with the viral fever and on drips. Balaji and Yomahesh must cash in early morning dew at Chinnaswamy stadium.

Day 2 - Scorecard

Update - Day 3

TN gained the upper hand by restricting Karnataka to 267 and gaining a big first innings lead of 264. Karnataka, following on, are 48 for no loss at the end of day 3. L.Balajhi picked up 3 wickets, Suresh 4 and Ashwin picked up 3 for TN in Karnataka's first innings. Only Raghu with a 76 managed a fifty for Karnataka. Robin Uthappa was out to a first ball duck, lbw B. Ashwin.

Karnataka has to bat the whole day tomorrow. TN has to make the morning dew work for them. Hope Balaji shines in the second innings too. There was a time when teams batted a whole day comfortably to draw match. But the advent bang, bang cricket resulted in more attacking play, more mistakes and less tenacity among batsmen today. It will be interesting to see how Karnataka fares tomorrow.

Final update
The match has ended in a draw with Karnataka scoring 269 runs for the loss 4 wickets. R.Ashwin picked up 3 wickets for TN. Karnataka was bit shaky at 181 for 4 with 30+ overs to go but Raghu and Pandey batted valiantly to earn a draw and a point. TN's batting looks good for the season but the bowling is short on delivery.

Scorecard

Elsewhere in the Ranji

Group A

Mumbai piled 486 with Wasim Jaffer scoring 192. Gujarat tottering at 77 for six at the close of play on day 2. D Kulkarni picked up 4 for Mumbai. Parmer picked up 6 for Gujarat. Gujarat thrashed Saurashtra in the first match and now suffering at hands of the big boy.

Final Update
Mumbai cleans up Gujarat for 44 in the second innings. All Mumbai bowlers share the spoils. Seems like a professional performance by them.

Scorecard

Saurashtra's top order failed yet again to provide a good start and lost 3 wickets for 27 and almost repeated their performance against Gujarat last week. But not this time said the resolute Pujara. They were 100 for 4 when R Jadeja joined Pujara. These two together put up a grand show against Orissa and remained unbeaten after adding 520 runs together. Saurashtra declared at 620 for 4 with Pujara scoring his 3 triple of the season and first in this Ranji season. R Jadeja scored a double. Orissa have made a quite beginning. They are 42 for 0 at close of play.

Update
Sourashtra has made Orissa follow on. Orissa is 4 for 0 at stumps with a whole day and 314 runs to match. Looks like Sourashtra will register a big win. They sufferred a huge loss in the hands of Gujarat in the first match. Today it was Gujarat's turn at the hands of Mumbai while Sourashtra looking to decimate Orissa.

Final update
Sourashtra wrapped up the match against Orissa. A confidence boosting win after the first match loss to Gujarat. Saurashtra trailing by 318 runs were bowled out for 234 with Jadeja, the first innings double centurion, picking up 5 wickets.

Scorecard

Delhi has some worries against Hyderabad. Hyd were all out for 334 with SA Pai scoring 130. Sangwan led the wickets tally for Delhi with 4 wickets. In reply Delhi are 124 for 3 with both openers Chopra and Dhawan back in the pavilion. Ashwin Yadav picked up 2 wickets. No idea about who he is though his name suggests that he could be the another son of the famous Shivlal Yadav playing for Hyderabad. Arjun Yadav continuing to lead Hyderabad with a first class average of around 28 with bat.

Update
Delhi surrendered the first innings lead to Hyderbad. They were all out for 284 with Ashwin Yadav picking up 6 for 52. Who is he? Offie form Shivlal's stable?

At close of play Hyderabad were 31 for no loss and has a lead of 81. But for some sterling performance by Delhi bowlers, this match is heading into a draw. It's going to be second draw for Delhi this season. With Mumbai, Punjab winning and Sourashtra looking to wrap it up tomorrow, Delhi has to lift itself in the coming matchs

Final Update
As expected the match ended in a draw. Hyd scored 230 for the loss of 3 wickets. Mithun Manhas picked up all three for Delhi while Ravi Teja scored 113 and remained not out for Hyderabad.

Scorecard

Punjab are in a strong position after taking a 129 run lead against Rajasthan in the first innings. Rajasthan likely to perform worse than their first innings (133 ao) and are in shamble at 57 for 6 at the of day 2. Gony and Gagandeep stared with ball taking 4 wickets each in the first innings. In the second innings Kakkar picked up 3 so far for Punjab. Now Greg is really having some problem with his presence, irrespective of the team is working for.

Final update
Punjab has wrapped up the match against Rajasthan pretty comfortably. They needed just 41 to win the match and scored them for the loss of one wicket. It was a team performance.

Scorecard

Group B

UP vs Baroda is almost even stevens with UP having just its nose ahead. Praveen Kumar for UP and Irfan for Baroda picked up fivers.

Update
UP took a 51 run lead against Baroda. Irfan finished with 6 wickets. In their second essay Baroda has responded well and are 239 for 4. They now have a lead of 188. What will they do? Declare with a lead of 220+ and declare? I think they should. For a draw they will only get 1 as UP took the first innings lead but if they set a sporting target, they may as well pressurise UP and win the match and pocket 6 points. What would Connor Williams do? Go for 6 man. I am looking forward to this result. Interesting 4th day's play on the cards

Final update
The match ended in a draw. Asked to chase 264 UP ended with 151 for 6. They were once 97 for 6 in 30 overs. After that Kaif and Wicket Keeper Amir Khan saved UP valiantly. Kaif scored 45 while Amir scored 7 of some 90 odd balls. Both remained not out. Irfan could manage only 1 wicket in the second innings.

Scorecard

Maharashtra is in a strong position against Andhra Pradesh after surviving the scare given by TN in their first match. AP were all out for 348 while MH are 205 for 1 at stumps on day 2. MH's seamer Fallah took 6 wickets while their opening batsman Khadiwale scored 103 and was the batsman to be dismissed. For AP Whatekar scored 142.

Update
This game is heading for a draw. With an overnight score of 205 for 1, Maharashtra were bundled out for 393. That's pathetic. They not only failed to score big but also consumed lot of overs to ensure a first innings lead. In the end they gained 45 runs lead and AP are 2 with out loss at stumps.

Final Update
The match ended in a draw. Andhra declared at 210 for 5 leaving 10 odd overs for Maharashtra to chase 166.

Scorecard

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TN starts in style

Tamil Nadu opened its campaign at Nashik against Maharashtra. Their openers remain unbeaten at the end first day's play and have together added 377. M.Vijay, on whom I am keeping an eye, has scored his second double century in first class and the other opener Abinav Mukund, a new comer to the TN Ranji side, is on a century now. I hope they build the partnership further and score biggg individually.

TN has been struggling off late to make it past the league round. In fact two years back it had to fight hard to avoid relegation to the plate group. Badrinath was the lone man doing the batting for TN during this period after Badani, Sriram and few others left for ICL riches. Since the arrival of Vijay TN's batting look bit solid. Vijay had a good start to his career in 2006-07 and had an average one in 2007-08. He has had a good start to this season and is in good form. He had a good India A outing against NZ A and came second in the challenger trophy batting charts.

TN's prospects for this seasons rests largely on the shoulders of Vijay with Badrinath carrying the drinks for India seniors. TN's bowling department is emboldened by the return of L.Balaji. It has a very good offie, who missed out most of last season due to injury, in Ashwin.

Other point of interest in TN for Indian cricket fans is DK, the man who rose to the top from the bottom and fell down from there with a big thud, all in one season. Wishing him and his team good luck.

Day 2 - Update

TN declares at 648 for 3. Abinav Mukund makes it biggg (300*) and remains unbeaten while Vijay scored 243. Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan scored 59. DK failed again scoring just 5. A strange coincidence that both DK and his captain on England tour are struggling to find their touch. Balaji picks up the opener Khadiwale as Maharshtra ended the day at 154 for 1 in 44 overs. The pitch seems to be a good one to bat. Though still lot of cricket left in this game, I think this could end in a tame draw unless the pitch cracks and Ashwin has his way.

Day 3 - Update

This match is heading for a tame draw. Maharashtra are 401 for 7 at the end of day 3. TN likely to pick up extra first innings points. AJ Shrikhande, who is just playing his second first class match, saved the day for Maharastra with his big ton (195). Ashwin, the tall offie, has impressive figures of 3 for 68 from 40 overs. TN has to shore up its bowling, otherwise they will have another year of average performance.

Day 4 - Update

Despite TN's efforts on the fourth day KM Jadhav and NS Paradkar saved the day for Maharashtra. After dismissing MH for 457 in the first innings, TN enforced the follow on. TN spinners picked up 3 quick wickets for 55 but J & P scored 90+ each to ensure a draw and point for Maharashtra. Maharashtra scored 250 for six at the close of play. It must be relief for Maharashtra and an opportunity gone for TN. C Suresh, left arm spinner, of TN picked 7 or 205 in the match with a fiver in the first innings.

TN has improve it's performance in coming matches. Badri's presence should help them but Vijay's absence will be felt. Balaji and Yomagesh must deliver for TN enter the knock out phase.

scorecard

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