India: A Keen contest on cards, weather willing (5 November 1998)

5 November 1998

India: A Keen contest on cards, weather willing

The Hindu

TIRUNELVELI, Nov. 4. Invariably, for most of the teams in the South Zone, one of the five league encounters every season ends up badly affected by rain.

In fact, in Tamil Nadu's season-opener against Hyderabad (in Hyderabad)-last week, the third day's play was completely washed out, robbing the visitor's chances of an outright victory, after it had gained the first Innings lead and the upperhand by close of the second day.

The Tamil Nadu side, which arrived here on Wednesday morning, was welcomed by wet and overcast conditions. It has been raining here since early hours of the day, caused by the low pressure. Another 24 hours of rain has been forecast.

As they alighted from the train came the good news that two of Tamil Nadu boys, Sadagopan Ramesh and Sridharan Sriram (both left-handed batsmen) have been selected for the India Youth side to play the West Indies 'A' at Pune from November 23 to 25. This meant major celebrations, for the talented, but recognition-starved Tamil Nadu camp.

Ranji champion Karnataka, led by Sujit Somasundar and without its top five players who are on National duty, arrived later in the afternoon.

With the rain incessant and the India Cements ground, Sankar Nagar, soaking wet, the Subbiah Pillai limited overs contest scheduled to be held on Thursday is in danger of being washed out.

The four-day Ranji Trophy contest follows the limited overs match. It is the benefit game of Mr. S. Balaji, a former Tamil Nadu and Railways Ranji cricketer who is now a member of the Tamil Nadu State selection committee.

The curator and the ground staff sounded confident in getting the ground up in good condition in minimum time, saying it is just a matter of some sun shine. The ground possesses a good drainage system and enthusiastic ground staff.

The venue holds historical significance for Tamil Nadu cricket. For it was here, in 1995-96, that it beat Mumbai for the first time. This the fourth match (third in recent times) to be played here.

Last year, Tamil Nadu beat Karnataka in the limited overs match and scored first innings points in the four-day match. The last time Karnataka had won outright was in 1993-94. A year earlier, Tamil Nadu had won by six wickets. But since then, Kamataka has had better of the exchanges.

As has been always, the match is expected to be a keen contest. The think-tanks of both sides refrained from announcing the probable elevens, saying it would depend on the conditions.

Tamil Nadu cricket manager T. Doraiappan said the final eleven will be decided after consulting with the selection committee chairman, Mr. VV. Kumar, who is expected on the morning of the match.

Opener WV. Raman, who missed the last Ranji match owing to injury, is fit. R.C. Vasant Kumaar, who opened the innings along with S. Ramesh in Raman's place, notched up a half century. This leaves it with three openers to chose from. Otherwise it looks like the side will not be disturbed.

Karnataka, the Irani Cup champion too, is contemplating on playing an extra off-spinner in D.S. Ananth for the four-day, keeping in mind the number (5) of left-handers in Tamil Nadu's batting up.

Shivlal Yadav, a member of the National selection committee is expected to witness the match.

Tamil Nadu (from): S. Sharath (captain), WV. Raman, S. Ramesh, S. Sriram, Hemang K. Badani, D. Vasu, S. Vasanth Saravanan, T.R. Arasu (wicket-keeper), S. Mahesh, M. Venkataramana, T. Kumaran, J. Madanagopal, R.C. Vasant Kumaar, S. Ganesh Kumar and Tanveer Jabbar.

Cricket manager: T. Doraiappan.

Administrative Manager: B. Arun.

Karnataka: Sujit Somasundar (captain), J. Arurn Kumar, Vijay Bharadwaj, A. Vijay, H.T. Girish Rao, Fazal Khaleel, S. Shiraguppi (wicket-keeper), Anand Katti, Anand Yalvigi, Mansoor Ali Khan, D. Ganesli, D.S. Ananth, B. Akhil and R. Shanbal.

Cricket manager: B. Raghunath.

Administrative manager: Suresh Shanbal.

Umpires: Anand Patel (Jabalpur) and Sanjeev Rao (Indore).

Match referee: Milind Gunjal (Maharashrtra).