Tamil Nadu steal victory over Andhra in nail biting finish
After making heavy weather of a target of 172 off 50 overs, Tamil Nadu managed to edge past Andhra by two wickets in their South Zone Ranji One-Day encounter at the CPT-India Pistons Ground at Chennai
Anand Vasu
08-Dec-2000
After making heavy weather of a target of 172 off
50 overs, Tamil Nadu managed to edge past Andhra
by two wickets in their South Zone Ranji One-Day
encounter at the CPT-India Pistons Ground at
Chennai. On winning the toss, Andhra skipper AS
Pathak elected to bat first on a slow wicket. This
turned out to be a good decision for the skipper,
but not necessarily so for the team. Opening the
innings for the visiting side, Pathak made a
steady 80 (100 balls, 9 fours) before he was run
out by substitute fielder R Satish.
Unfortunately there was no serious support for
Pathak other than a innings of 32 from Faiyaz
Ahmed. With seven batsmen failing to make it to
double figures, Andhra slumped to 171 all out in
49.2 overs. Chasing a target of 172 should not
have been a tall order for the Tamil Nadu side.
However, they have not been in the best of batting
form in the tournament and this hampered them.
Free stroking southpaw Sridharan Sharath opened
the innings and looked to get his eye in. After he
was well set he began to open up, driving the ball
well square of the wicket. After making an
enterprising 47, he departed, falling to
offspinner Vatekar. The middle order failed yet
again and a mini collapse was at hand. At 114 for
6, it looked like Andhra would pull off an upset
victory.
Aashish Kapoor and Thirunavukarasu Kumaran ensured
that this did not happen. Batting sensibly, Kapoor
managed 19 from 26 balls before being trapped leg
before wicket by Vatekar. At this stage Tamil Nadu
were 144 for 8 and there was still a bit of work
to be done. Kumaran mixed a cautious straight bat
with several well placed heaves and Tamil Nadu
were nearly home. A frantically scampered leg bye
off the third ball of the last over took the home
side to victory by just two wickets.
Tamil Nadu take on an inform Hyderabad tomorrow,
and will have to do much better if they want to
come out of the game with a positive result.