The first half hour of play dictated terms for the whole match
Anand Vasu14-Apr-2000The first half hour of play dictated terms for the whole match.Sachin Tendulkar took the game by the horns, scored the runs requiredto secure a first innings lead and knocked the stuffing out of thevisiting team. At the end of the day, Tamil Nadu were staring defeatin the face with Mumbai needing just 64 runs to win the Ranji Trophysemifinal with a whole day and nine wickets in hand.With just 16 runs to score to take a first innings lead, the air wasthick with tension at the Wankhede Stadium. Tamil Nadu were right onthe ball in the field, keen to deny Mumbai every smallopportunity. Kumaran conceded just one run in his first over and keptthe pressure up.Mahesh bowled a dot ball to start his first over, the second of theday. Tendulkar eased the ball past towards long off and pushed hardfor two. Unable to keep up, Kuruvilla was stranded by a good throwfrom Gokulakrishna in the deep. One wicket was down and tension wasmounting.Santosh Saxena came to the crease but had to be content watchingTendulkar from the non striker’s end. He had no regrets doingthat. Coming down the wicket, Tendulkar showed the full face of a veryheavy bat as he lofted Mahesh back over his head. The ball lifted,climbed, took off and never returned. The Tamil Nadu team looked indisarray as the ball disappeared out of the stadium. Sensibly,Tendulkar took a single off the last ball of the over and kept thestrike.With the field well spread out, Tendukar nudged the ball to the onside and picked up a couple. Showing tremendous control underpressure, he smashed the next ball from Kumaran through the covers forfour. The scores were level.With one more run left to score, Saxena survived a good tight overfrom Mahesh. Making the tailender play every ball, Mahesh almost hadhis man when the ball rapped the pads. The umpire negated the appealin the face of much vehement appealing.Off the next over, Tendulkar took a boundary off Kumaran and settledthe issue. A single later, Saxena scooped the ball to Badani at midwicket and Mumbai were all out for 490. A lead of just five runs. Fivevery crucial runs however.Tendulkar was unbeaten on 233, his highest first class score. Onceagain the little genius had shown why people call him the world’s bestbatsman.Losing the first innings lead to Mumbai broke the back of the TamilNadu team. When they came out to bat the second time around, the TamilNadu players showed no focus worth talking about.The wickets tumbled with no one in the top five making 20. Amidstflashy driving, cutting and pulling, Ajit Agarkar snared Sriram andMadanagopal. The latter was completely undone by a superb yorker fromAgarkar. Lulling Madanagopal into a false sense of complacency withsuccessive deliveries wide outside the off stump, Agarkar let rip ayorker that sent the middle stump flying yards back.Robin Singh patted a harmless ball from Kuruvilla straight back to himafter carving him over the infield. At 43/5, Tamil Nadu had theirheads well and truly on the chopping block.Reuben Paul and Hemang Badani livened up the proceedings straightafter lunch with some crisp hitting. Never one to hang about, Reubenwent after the bowling with gusto. He played and missed more thanonce, even mis-hit the ball but was not deterred. Swinging freelythrough the line he helped himself to four boundaries and a couple ofsixes in his knock of 46. When he was out playing one shot too many toPowar it hardly came as a surprise.In the meantime, Badani was capitalising on some good form, mixingaggression with caution most judiciously. When he chose to attack, itwas always an all out attack. Coming down the wicket to Pawar, Badanilofted the ball effortlessly over mid off. The ball landed in theupper tier, speaking volumes of the good touch he was in.Sadagopan Mahesh lasted just two balls and was visibly upset whengiven out caught behind off the bowling of Saxena. Gesturing that theball might have come off his body, Mahesh threw the bat down indisgust when he saw the umpire’s finger go up. For good measure, hespent a couple of minutes shaking his head and even exchanged wordswith the umpire before he stalked off the field.Badani was run out on 63 when he and Aashish Kapoor took of for asingle that wasn’t quite on. A good throw from Wasim Jaffer found it’smark and that was the end of both Badani and interest in the TamilNadu innings. Kumaran was soon trapped LBW and the innings folded forjust 171. This left Mumbai a target of 167 for victory with three justunder two sessions and a day to make the runs.Sameer Dighe and Wasim Jaffer motored along sedately. The Tamil Nadubowlers made no dent on the batsmen till spin was introduced. Kapoor,bowling with a bit of guile, thought he had Jaffer caught close to thebat. When the umpire negated the unanimous loud shout from thefielders, the off spinner’s disappointment was clear for all to see.After that incident, Kapoor did get his due when Jaffer edged an armball to Ramesh at slip. However that was the only joy for the TamilNadu team. Jatin Paranjpe and Dighe batted confidently to take Mumbaithrough to 104/1 at close. Both swept the spinners well, and Dighe wasrelieved to end the day with a half century to his credit.Mumbai will resume tomorrow needing 63 more runs for victory. Unlessit rains all day, Mumbai will win this match outright in no time. ForTamil Nadu it would seem that yet another season has gone by withnothing but a spirited performance to show for it.