Tight finish on eve of selection meeting

After the flashing drives flowed off the blade of Vinod Kambli's blade yesterday, there was a lull in the proceedings at the IIT Chemplast cricket ground today.

Once again the probables were cleaved in half and two sides lined up. This time stumper Reuben Paul jumped sides, joining Sachin Tendulkar's XI and leaving the rest of his Tamil Nadu mates behind. This meant that he had to share the 'keeper's slot with Vijay Dahiya.

Batting first, Tendulkar's XI mustered a decent 244. Yuvraj Singh caught the selectors' eye with a confident half century that included three strikes off left arm spinner Sunil Joshi that cleared the ropes with ease. Although the captain himself made forty odd, it was only a late in the innings half century from Mumbai mediumpacer Ajit Agarkar that saw Tendulkar's side to its eventual score.

In response, Robin Singh's team began badly as Sridharan Sriram contrived to tickle a ball that was well down leg side into the waiting hands of Reuben Paul. Sadagoppan Ramesh then unveiled his silky touch old and drove fluently on his way to a half century. Mohammed Kaif was stylishly solid at the other end and the two kept the score ticking over well.

A couple of airy shots later they were both back in the pavilion. Hemang Badani stuttered to begin with, then gained confidence and began to play a few strokes against the spinners. He too fell to a tired shot and this left the side chasing with around 20 runs to score. Young stumper Ajay Ratra was busy between the wickets but seemed to have been caught out by a Tendulkar drifter. The Haryana youngster attempted to sweep a ball that was slipping down the leg side and seemed to nick the ball through to Vijay Dahiya behind the stumps. A loud appeal followed and the umpire obliged. It was immediately clear to all that the ball had actually gone off Ratra's forearm and not his bat. In a gesture that was vintage Tendulkar, the appeal was withdrawn and Ratra batted on.

Just when it seemed like the match might end tamely, the wickets began to tumble. Zaheer Khan breezed in and out as did skipper Robin Singh. The unlikely combination of Venkatesh Prasad and Thirunavukarasu Kumaran saw their team home with three balls to spare in almost pitch darkness.

The match ended at 6.20 pm, hardly any time to play a game of cricket. As it was, the result of the game mattered less than the experience and this kept everyone going.

All five selectors were present to witness the day's proceedings and tomorrow at 11am they will put their heads together at the offices of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and pick the team that will head for the International Cricket Council Knock Out Trophy at Nairobi.