Tamil Nadu have gone from strength to strength this season

Tamil Nadu's performance in the Ranji Trophy has historically been relatively uneven. As pointed out in the historical lookback on this site, they have often faltered at the knock-out stages, and only twice have they brought the title back to Chennai.

This season, however, Tamil Nadu will go into its semi-final battle with Bombay with a great deal of confidence. A confidence that is the product of an outstanding season so far, marked by perhaps greater consistency than the team has ever shown before.

Coming off a quarterfinal showing in 1998/99, Tamil Nadu began the season by gaining first innings points over Andhra Pradesh and Kerala - neither performance a surprise. They then went to Bangalore and soundly defeated defending champions Karnataka on their home turf. This excellent win has been the catalyst for the team soaring to new heights the rest of this season. It was followed by gaining first innings points over Hyderabad and a destruction of minnows Goa, thus reclaiming the MD Sounderajan Trophy, symbolizing superiority in the South Zone.

Emerging from their zone and into the Super League, Tamil Nadu has gone from strength to strength. The Super League schedule was begun with back-to-back destructions (by an innings each) of Saurashtra and Haryana. This was followed by convincingly claiming first innings points over both Orissa and Uttar Pradesh, in a thorough domination of the Group. Only a quirk in the Ranji Trophy rules denied Tamil Nadu a bye directly into the semi-finals. Despite having more Super League points than Karnataka, they lost out due to the latter's status of being defending champions.

The dragons that have historically bedevilled Tamil Nadu teams have been three-fold - a tendency to falter once they emerge from their South Zone battles, a pattern of weaker performances away from the home city of Chennai, and a bogey-team in Bombay (to whom they lost outright 13 times, before registering their first win in 1995-96).

The performances this season have been characterized by great strength on emerging from its zone, demonstrated by a domination of their group in the Super League. In addition, no less than three of the four Super League games played were away from home. To these is added the outright victory over a quality Karnataka side in Bangalore.

Thus, the Tamil Nadu team of 1999-2000 can be said to have convincingly slain the first two historical dragons in their path. In the semi-finals, they get their opportunity to make it a hat-trick - for the team awaiting them is none other than the third dragon, Bombay. Time will tell if the Dragon-Slayers can claim their third and most important victim.