Sadly the cup of woes is complete for Tamil Nadu, yet another time
knocked out of Ranji trophy - when will
we get to see another Balu Alagannan or S Vaduevan ??
Sulkashan Kashinath Kulkarni,
a Wicket-keeping batsman was born in 1967 at Sadashivgarh, Karnataka, made his debut for
Railways cricket team at the age of 18,
switched to Bombay cricket team in the following season. He is best
known for his 459-run opening partnership with Wasim Jaffer in 1996/97 against
Saurashtra cricket team, Mumbai's highest partnership for any wicket – however, now, he is in news for wrong reasons !
Those following Ranji would know but not all old timers – Ranji
Trophy is now ‘IDFC First Bank Ranji Trophy’
- the first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 between
Madras and Mysore at the Chepauk ground in Madras. Star studded Bombay has won the tournament the most times with 41
wins including 15 back-to-back wins from 1958–59 to 1972–73. Karnataka which also boasted many Test stars
has won 8 times, Delhi 7 times - Tamil
Nadu has won only twice – the last time
Mumbai won was in 2015-16; then it has been lesser fancied teams - Gujarat, Vidarbha, Vidarbha, Saurashtra,
Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra
Heart
burn for TN fans as their team is out of the tournament once again. After conceding a first-innings lead of 232,
Tamil Nadu collapsed once again to lose inside three days. Mumbai made it to their 48th Ranji Trophy
final after thrashing Tamil Nadu by an innings and 70 runs on the third day of
their semi-final at the Bandra Kurla Complex. The final will be played at the
Wankhede Stadium from March 10.
Resuming
the day on 353 for 9, Mumbai ended their first innings at 378, with a healthy
lead of 232. Tanush Kotian, who was unbeaten on 74 overnight, stretched the
last-wicket partnership with Tushar Deshpande to 88. At one point, it looked
like Kotian, No. 10, would complete his second hundred in as many matches. But
Washington Sundar dismissed Deshpande to leave him stranded on 89. In response, Tamil Nadu once again had a
nightmarish start. Shardul Thakur, who had scored a blazing hundred on Sunday,
dismissed N Jagadeesan and Sai Sudharsan cheaply. From the other end, Mohit
Avasthi had Washington caught behind to make it 10 for 3.
This time, it appeared Tamil Nadu had a balanced bowling attack –
Sandeep Warrier & Kuldeep Sen alongside Mohd Mohammed – a good spin attack
of Ajith Ram, Washington Sundar and .. leftie Sai Kishore. Sai Kishore fought valiantly taking 6
wickets and at one stage had ripped the Mumbai line-up until Shardul Thakur and
the tail of Mumbai stood up.
Looking
back the State Team (was not TN then)
won at Indore in 1955 defeating Holkar. Holkar put Madras in and Madras made
478 with CD Gopinath making 133. Holkar
were bowled out for 417. Madras made 311
in its second innings with Kripal Singh scoring 91. Balu Alaganan was the Captain and the
victory margin was 46 runs.
Decades
later, in Mar 1988, Tamilnadu defeated Railways by an innings and 144 runs to
win the Trophy. They had only the acting Captain, the suave
experienced S Vasudevan, a great left arm bowler and a capable batsman. The great team player he was – Vasudevan is
often quoted for his simple life despite his significant achievements and
longevity. He took over 200 wickets in Ranji partnering another great
Srinivasan Venkatraghavan. In Jan 1980, he played for South Zone against
touring Pakistanis and took the wickets of Zaheer, Imran and Mudassar –
creditable achievement at that.
Unfortunately, he never played for the Zonal team even again.
Mumbai
tail wagging is not new ! - in their last match, Mumbai were 337 for 9 in Quarter-final
against Baroda in Mumbai when last man Tushar Deshpande joined Tanush Kotian.
Neither had scored a first-class century before, but by the time Deshpande was
out for 123 Mumbai had advanced to 569; Kotian was left with 120 not out.
According to Steve in Cricinfo, there's only one more instance of Nos. 10 and 11 both scoring centuries in the same first-class innings. It also involved two Indian players - but a long way from the Mumbai maidans. In the third match of the 1946 tour of England, against Surrey at The Oval, the Indians had an undistinguished 205 for 9 when last man Shute Banerjee joined the No. 10, Chandu Sarwate. Both of them were actually reasonably accomplished batters: Sarwate finished his career with 14 first-class hundreds, and Banerjee with five. Against an attack containing Alec Bedser - soon to make his Test debut - the last pair more than doubled the score. They eventually put on 249 before Banerjee fell for 121, leaving Sarwate with 124 not out. "
TN campaign has ended – a semi final heartbreak – further jolted by
the ugly ungainly remarks made by Sulakshan Kulkarni, who incidentally is their
Coach !! Kulkarni remarked that TN lost
the match right at the toss @ 9 am on opening day, before a ball was
bowled.
Kulkarni
alleged unequivocally that the captain, R Sai Kishore, made the call
despite conventional wisdom and his own knowledge of conditions having played
and coached for Mumbai, suggesting they should've bowled first. "I always
speak straightforward - we lost the match at 9 o'clock on day one,"
Kulkarni said after Tamil Nadu were handed an innings defeat by Mumbai inside
three days at the Bandra Kurla Complex Ground. "The moment I saw the
wicket I exactly knew what we were going to get. "Everything was set, we
won the toss, as a coach, as a Mumbaikar, I know the conditions well. We should
have bowled but the captain had some different instinct."
One thought that the Coach would have more heart for the Team
that he is Coaching than his home team – if that be the case, he would better
be standing by the side of the team he prefers rather than making money
elsewhere keeping heart away.
Dinesh Karthik, the India wicketkeeper, termed Kulkarni's comments
as "so wrong" and "disappointing", while former TN captain
Hemang Badani felt Kulkarni had "thrown Sai Kishore under the bus" with
his comments in the aftermath of their defeat. Sai Kishore's
decision to bat first backfired spectacularly as TN were tottering at 42 for 5.
They were eventually bowled out for 146. Then they had Mumbai reeling at 106
for 7, before a century from Shardul Thakur hauled Mumbai out of a tricky
situation. They eventually managed to make 378, which all but ensured TN were
batted out of the game.
Memories
flood that Sulakshan Kulkarni, who served Mumbai as Coach from 2011 to 2014, then was unceremoniously moved
away. There were news that years later,
he was initially interviewed for
the post by Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the MCA's Cricket Improvement
Committee (CIC), he was offered a remuneration of INR 24 lakh for one year, as posted in MCA website. However, Kulkarni retorted that the MCA delayed his appointment and sent him a
contract in mid-August with an offer of INR 14 lakh, which he
turned down.
Not sure what transpired, not sure of what was his pay cheque
for Tamil Nadu – whatever it be, he was on an assignment and has now spoken
against the interests of the Team that he coached, simply criticising the
performing Captain. What TN should perhaps do – is sack the Coach immediately
and look to some Senior TN player as Coach.
5th Mar 2024
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