Ranji Trophy Final, Day 4 : Rajasthan inch closer towards their 2nd consecutive title

On a day when the wickets kept tumbling like nine-pins, Dinesh Karthik was the only silver-lining in the Tamil Nadu batting order.

On a day when wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Dinesh Karthik displayed nerves of steel to score a fine hundred as Rajasthan kept inching close to their second consecutive Ranji trophy win at the Chepauk on Sunday.

After losing their top-order with some ordinary batting at the end of third day, the last-night pair Karthik – Vasudevadas failed to keep going on Sunday as Vasudevadas miscued one to Rituraj Singh at square-leg.

Ramasamy Prasanna joined with Dinesh Karthik and displayed a lot of fight. Prasanna, though limited by his technique, maximized his ability and married it with his commitment to produce a gritty 44 off 79 balls. After surviving a nervy initial phase, he drove and swept confidently before involving in a mix-up with Dinesh Karthik that cost him his wicket. Replays showed that Dinesh Karthik chose the wrong end and almost ran into his partner. By the law of unintended consequences, the throw from Rituraj Singh that was aimed at the non-striker’s end devoured Prasanna at the striker’s end as Yagnik promptly picked it up and dislodged the bails.

The Rajasthan bowlers then scythed through the middle-order taking advantage of their lack of application in the middle. Wickets fell at regular intervals leaving it in the hands of the Tamil Nadu skipper to salvage some pride. Balaji played a useful hand in his 29, joining hands with Dinesh Karthik.

The umpiring standards came under the scanner as Vineet Kulkarni made some absolute bloopers. He refused a plumb lbw decision, giving Sunny Gupta a reprieve when he was on 5. Later he adjudged a leg-before when the ball got a thick inside-edge off Balaji’s bat. It was understandable on a day when nothing went their way the Tamil Nadu, captain hurled his bat onto the ground in anguish as he walked past the boundary rope.

Tamil Nadu was eventually bowled out for 295 which virtually sealed the game for Rajasthan.

Rajasthan were rewarded for sticking to their plans throughout, right from adopting a defensive approach on the first two days to attacking the stumps and forcing the errors out of the Tamil Nadu batsmen.

Dinesh Karthik was the only silver lining in the Tamil Nadu batting order. He went on to score his 16^th first class hundred, his 3^rd this Ranji season. While doing so he also went past 300 first class runs. He scored his second consecutive hundred on a Ranji trophy final.

What stood out in his effort was – and it didn’t even occur to me but was pointed out by Mr. S Dinakar, The Hindu – was his commitment to hang in there after eight sessions of glove-work. This was the effort that Tamil Nadu as a team lacked in this game. Of course they did put in that effort before, else they couldn’t have journeyed so far. But champions rise to the occasion, especially the big ones like a final.

Rajasthan did not enforce a follow on and were 21/0 at stumps but the scores will hardly impact the game anymore except for troubling the scorers.