One of the semifinalists for the 2016-17 season of the Ranji Trophy was decided on Saturday after Tamil Nadu defeated Karnataka in a low-scoring affair at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Vizag.
The Abhinav Mukund-led side required 87 runs in the final innings and achieved the target with seven wickets in hand, thanks to an unbeaten 41 from Dinesh Karthik, who was playing hs 100th game for the state.
Prior to the start of the game, a lot was said about how Karnataka were heading into the contest with a full strength squad and Tamil Nadu were missing men like R Ashwin and Murali Vijay in their ranks.
However, even though the 30-year-old off-spinner was not able to play any role on the field for his side, he ensured he made his support felt of it, courtesy his Twitter handle, where he unleashed a series of tweets during the course of the game.
First, he tweeted when Karnataka found themselves in early trouble during the first innings and tagged triple centurion from the Chennai Test, Karun Nair asking what had happened with the side.
Then earlier this morning, Ashwin tweeted wishing the Tamil Nadu side the best and stating that this was to be a day which would define them as a team.
Then as proceedings finished, Ashwin took to his Twitter handle to congratulate the Tamil Nadu team for their win and making it to the semifinals of the competition.
It was indeed great to see an international cricketer come out in support of his team, even if he was away from the playing field and Ashwin certainly showed even despite becoming the fine cricketer that he had become, he was still keenly rooted to his grounds and it goes without saying that he would have loved to be part of the celebrations in Vizag.
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