Indian win at Ranchi .. .. and TN storms into Finals of SMA

After India’s exit in WCT20I in early stages – nothing much is seen – but in a few days, the finalist New Zealand is touring India and has in fact lost – the first & second T20I .. .. did you see the match yesterday ? 

1.   How closely you follow domestic Cricket and do you know that Syed MustaQ Ali tournament 2021 is now on – in fact Semi-finals today ? – can you name at least 5 players of the present team ?

2.   During yday T20I at Ranchi – there was mention about a Tamil Nadu player with specific reference to a Ranji match at Poona club ground against Maharashtra, March 1999 – did you hear that ?  

 

Searching for yesterday’s debutant in my blog, I stumbled on a post – in Jan 2012, at Rohtak, in the Heart of Haryana,  wickets tumbled at Bansilal Stadium – those following Indian politics would know that the three Lals -  Bhajan, Bansi and Devi held the Chief Minister's post among themselves between 1968 and 99. Harshal Patel, the former India Under-19 bowler  produced a stunning performance - as Rajasthan were bundled out for 89.   Then  it was the turn of  Rajasthan's  Rituraj Singh taking 5 for 36 reducing Haryana to 40/7  to 82/8 at stumps.  Patel’s figures read  15.1-4-34-8;  in an earlier match he had taken 8/40 against Karnataka ensuring their outright win.  

By 2021, he had risen in stature - Harshal Vikram Patel  had a  great IPL 2021  as a strike bowler for RCB –  but against CSK he came croppers. At Wankhede, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf de Plessis gave a very good start making 74 in 9 overs, then there were cameos from Raina and Rayudu but Ravindra Jadeja made everyone talk only about him. The final over started with CSK on a moderately high 154/4 – Harshal Patel returning to bowl.  The first ball was violently swung over long on and deep midwicket, flat for a 6;  2nd was slogged once more; 3rd  over waist height, disappeared over deep midwicket – it was a no ball too; then perhaps a slower ball, again went over the ropes ! – clueless – then a low toss, was dropped at extra cover as Jaddu ran 2; another 6 off the 5th ; 4 off the last ball – 37 in one over – reminiscing Prashant Parameswaran’s fate against Chris Gayle. 

At Ranchi yday, India won with ease – the scorecard reading : India 155 for 3 (Rahul 65, Rohit 55, Southee 3-16) beat New Zealand 153 for 6 (Phillips 34, Mitchell 31, Harshal 2-25, Ashwin 1-19) by seven wickets. 

A 117-run stand between KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma topped off a  team effort with the ball in dewy conditions as India wrapped up victory in the T20I series against New Zealand with one match still remaining. Both openers made half-centuries during which their calculated risks came off at just the right times.  Unlike Kohli, Rohit is winning tosses – NZ started well with Martin Guptill clattering 31 off 15.  Indian  bowlers, led by R Ashwin and the debutant Harshal Patel, pulled things back magnificently, and the openers laid the perfect platform for a chase that India eventually wrapped up with 16 balls to spare.

Ashwin back with whiteball was awesome - varying pace, trajectory, line  he ended with figures of 1 for 19 in 4 voers  - he had bowled 71 balls to right-hand batters since his T20I comeback, while conceding just 51 runs and zero boundaries. Harshal's slower ball, proved effective on international debut. He conceded just 25 in his four overs, and took the wickets of Mitchell and Glenn Phillips, both caught in the deep.  He got the player of the match too.  Tim Southee caused some confusion taking wickets of Rohit Sharma, Surya Yadav & KL Rahul but Rishab Pant cleared the fence twice, the last one a single handed hoist winning in style.     

The 13^th edition of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a Twenty20 competition is now on, Tamil Nadu are the defending champions.  Recently in SMA, Akshay Karnewar of Vidarbha became the first bowler to bowl four overs in a Twenty20 cricket match without conceding a run. Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bengal, Hyderabad and Rajasthan all won their Elite Groups, advancing to the quarter-finals. 

This morning in the first Semis at Delhi, Tamil Nadu spoilt the image of Hyderabad bowling them out for 90 and hitting the target with 34 balls remaining and won by 8 wickets.  Tamil Nadu rode on an excellent bowling performance led by medium pacer P Saravana Kumar, who returned 5 for 21, to rout Hyderabad by eight wickets.  Chasing a modest target, Tamil Nadu were in trouble early as they lost N Jagadeesan and H Nishaanth to quick bowler Rakshann Readdi by the third over, but  Sai Sudharsan and captain Vijay Shankar added  76 runs together for the unbroken third-wicket stand, and ensured completion of an easy win.  Tamil Nadu will face the winners of the other semi-final, being played between Karnataka and Vidarbha, in the title round. 

Now if you remember the Qs at the start : 

·         TN is captained by Vijay Shankar, Narayan Jagadeesan is the wicket-keeper; other players today were : Hari Nishanth, Sharukh Khan, Sanjay Yadav, Sandeep Warrier, P Saravana Kumar, M Mohammed, Ravi Srinivasan Sai Kishore &  Murugan Ashwin

·         Yday at Ranchi in T20I – Umpires were Anil Chaudhary and Jayaraman Madanagopal.  Madana played for TN with distinction – in that Ranji match against Maharashtra in Mar 1999, scored his personal best of 199. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
20.11.2021.