Can you
imagine the place where this scenic ground is located ?
When you confront someone reeling out statistics of the game and you
feel like stumping him with a Q – just ask him what the format of Ranji trophy
presently is >>>> ………… if you yourself are a novice, read on : Ranji Trophy is the premier domestic
tournament of the Nation, played between States (there are Cities too –
Hyderabad, Bombay – UT Delhi; others Railways and Services also….) the competition is named after England and Sussex cricketer
Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji (Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, also known as "Ranji").
At Adelaide, Cricket Australia tried to find the balance between being
respectful and over the top in their tribute. They had his Test number 408
written on the field, and on the shirts, the players wore special armbands with
PH on them. They made Hughes 13th man; since the Lord's Test, Hughes had often
been the 13th man. The scorecard reads :
Australia 7 for 517 dec (Smith 162*,
Warner 145, Clarke 128) and 5 for 290 dec (Warner 102) beat India444 (Kohli
115, Lyon 5-134) and 315 (Kohli 141, Vijay 99, Lyon 7-152) by 48 runs
With that daring sportive declaration, Aussies gave Team India chance
and at one point it was well within the grab – After 69 overs with 29 overs to
go Indians were 242/2 chasing 363 …. then Murali Vijay who had played 234 balls
was out lbw, just a run away from a deserved century. Indians lost their way,
lost their remaining wickets in a hurry – and most of them (7) to Nathan Lyon who
bowled quality offspin. Among Australian spinners, Jason Krejza picked up 12
wickets as well at Nagpur in 2008, but he conceded 358 runs in that match while
Lyon gave away 286, making Lyon's figures the best by an Australian spinner
against India.
The game however, was affected by
poor umpiring. While there were some sharp decisions made over the first four
days, the standards slipped drastically on the fifth. Ian Gould adjudged Shikhar Dhawan caught
behind for 9, though the Mitchell Johnson bouncer had deflected off the
batsman's shoulder. Marais Erasmus reprieved Vijay twice and once Kohli – but was
cruel on Ajinkya Rahane declaring caught
at short leg, though Lyon's offbreak bounced off the top of the front pad. Whatever,
it be, India squandered a match that was given on a platter, despite being
outplayed in all the earlier 4 days.
Natham, a tiny ancient trade town is situated in the Dindigul District
of Southern Tamil Nadu and is equidistant from the Lock city of Dindigul and
Temple City of Madurai. You may be surprised to read that a Ranji match is
being played here today. I had earlier posted about Tamil Nadu’s humiliation by Karnataka at
Bangalore (82 all out in the 4th innings) and at Wankhede, history was created as Mumbai
lost to Jammu. The J&K players were
ecstatic that Tendulkar also posed for photographs with the team in the
Wankhede Stadium dressing room. Many players even took his autographs on their
bats. Tendulkar then told them that after humbling the domestic giants, their
sole aim should be to win the Ranji Trophy.
Tamil Nadu plays J&K at Dingidul today. Dindigul is the
administrative headquarters and is located
420 km (260 mi) southwest of the state capital, Chennai and 100 km (62 mi) away
from Tiruchirappalli. This ancient
settlement was ruled at different times by the Early Pandyan Kingdom, the
Medieval Cholas, Pallava dynasty, the later Pandyas, the Madurai Sultanate, the
Dindigul Sultanates, the Vijayanagara Empire, the Madurai Nayak Dynasty, Chanda
Sahib, the Carnatic kingdom and the British. Dindigul has a number of
historical monuments, the Rock Fort being the most prominent.
The 2014–15 Ranji Trophy is the 80th season of the Ranji Trophy, the
premier first-class cricket tournament in India. It is being contested by 27
teams divided into three groups of nine teams each. The top three teams from
Groups A and B advance to the quarterfinals along with the top two teams from
Group C. Karnataka are the defending champions, having won the 2013–14 season. In the Group A – the 9 teams in fray are : Karnataka;
Bengal; Mumbai; Railways; Uttar Pradesh; Baroda; Tamil Nadu; Jammu &
Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh.
The ground that you saw at the start of this post is NPR College,
Natham, Dindigul, where the Ranji match between TN & JK is played. Dindigul is famous for locks which are
manufactured as a co-operative sector.
Locks manufactured in Dindigul are sold in national and international markets.
The Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology, through its research
officers wing, has obtained geographical indication for Dindigul locks. Chinnalapatti silk, a brand of silk saree is
produced out of Chinnalapatti located 11 km (6.8 mi) from Dindigul.
At Dindigul today, Prasanna won the toss, elected to bat, saw wickets
regularly falling and at one stage were 144/7, mini-recovery to 193/8 and
finally to 254 – thanks to a brilliant innings by office Malolan Rangarajan’s
breezy 93 off 75 with 14 fours and 3 sixers.
At stumps on day 1, J&K were 28/3…..
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
14th Dec 2014.
photo credit : NPR college web
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