Are you following domestic season; unlikely you recognize this Cricketer !!
You may have felt happy knowing that Tamil Nadu beat Saurashtra-Tamil Nadu, which typically relies on its spinners to dominate at home, had its pacers to thank this time, as they produced a disciplined performance, taking 15 of the 20 wickets.All credits to ground staff for making the match happen despite heavy rains in Coimbatore.It was a lanky debutant who claimed a six wicket haul in the emphatic innings & 70 runs victory.
For Tamil Nadu, Ranji trophy title has been a pipe-dream save on two occasions : 1954-55 & 1987-88.They have been runners-up 10 times, the last being 2014-15 season.
Of the handful of Cricketers from Tamil Nadu who have played for India, there have been very few pace-bowlers (includes medium pacers) starting with CR Rangachari, KJ Gopalan, the fastest from the State Thirumalai Ananthanpillai Sekar, Bharat Arun, Robin Singh, Laxmipathi Balaji, T Natarajan.So the team’s reliance on spinners that would include Vaman Kumar, Srinivasan Venkatraghavan, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, WV Raman, M Venkatramana, mercurial GOAT Ravichandran Ashwin & Washington Sundar. There have been players like R Vasudevan who excelled for the State but could not get a chance to play for India.
Looking back, in Apr 1973 when Venkat led side lost to Wadekar’s Bombay in the finals – the new ball attack was Kalyanasundaram and P Mukund.In Mar 92, when we lost to Delhi, it was Diwakar VAsu and Robin Singh.In Mar 2015 when Karnataka humiliated TN by defeating by an innings & 217 runs, new ball was shared by Lakshmipathy Balaji and Prasanth Parameswaran.
Going back even further there was this Triplicanite – MJ Gopalan, a double-international.Morappakam Josyam Gopalan from the village of Morappakam in Chingleput district, was discovered by C. P. Johnstone, one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket. He was employed byBurmah Shell then moved to Triplicane Cricket Club. He was a fast medium bowler who moved the ball both ways. In his first class debut in the Madras Presidency tournament, he took five wickets in each innings. He dismissed Jack Hobbsin both innings in match against Vizianagaram; in the second he clean bowled the great man with a leg-cutter that pitched on the leg stump and took the off bail. Against Ceylon in 1933, he took a famous hattrick, the first in Chepauk. When Ranji Trophy was inaugurated in 1934, Madras and Mysore (now Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) played the first match. The very first ball of the tournament was delivered by legendary MJ Gopalan. His only Test match was against England at Calcutta in early 1934. In 1935, he toured New Zealand with the Indian hockey team which enjoyed enormous success. He missed out Berlin Olympics whence team captained by Dhyan Chand, won the gold medal.
Getting to the present Saurashtra was captained by Sheldon Jackson, who played for KKR, a veteran in Ranji, a reliable batsman, excellent fielder and a wicket-keeper too, he has played for Chemplast in Chennai 1st division league.
The man at the start is Gurjapneet Singh, aged 25 bowling left arm medium fast, he debuted at Sri Ramakrishna College grounds at Coimbatore against Saurashtra. Andre Siddarth, Navneet Vora, Paraswaraj Rana & Sonu Yadav too debuted.
The debutant pacers Gurjapneet and Sonu Yadav bowled out Saurashtra. Left-arm quick Gurjapneet Singh finished with 6 for 22 in the second innings, while right-arm pacer Sonu Yadav bagged 3 for 29. Tamil Nadu won by an innings and 70 runs, as Saurashtra folded for 94 in the second innings.Brief scores: Saurashtra 203 & 94 (Gurjapneet Singh 6/21) lost to Tamil Nadu 367 (N Jagadeesan 100, Sai Sudharsan 82, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 49, Jaydev Unadkat 6/61) by innings & 70 runs. Points: Tamil Nadu 7, Saurashtra 0.
Out of the 20 Saurashtra wickets the seamers took, 15 – including nine in the second innings. These are still early days into the season, but Tamil Nadu are beginning to reap rewards for starting their preparations early. In May, when the whole of India was busy with the IPL, a 19-member Tamil Nadu squad went on a 27-day tour to the UK, where they featured in multi-day and 50-over matches against club sides. Though the IPL regulars were not available, seven of those who were part of the squad for their match against Saurashtra were part of the trip.
For a team that is looking to end the Ranji drought with their last title dating back to 1987/88, their job only gets tougher this season. For the next match in Delhi, they will miss the services of their captain R Sai Kishore as also B Sai Sudharsan and Baba Indrajith – their batting mainstays – for India A’s tour of Australia. Tamil Nadu knows their biggest challenge will commence from Round 2, when they face Delhi at the Kotla. With as many as four away fixtures this time and all in the northern part, without key batsmen in their ranks, it will be a huge test of character.
Hope TN beat the odds and realize the dream of winning Ranji title again.
With regards – S Sampathkumar
15.10.2024