Its been, I guess, 23 years since Tamil Nadu last won the ranji trophy – India’s premier first class tournament. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, I quite naturally want my home team to win it. For the past 3 seasons, Tamil Nadu has consistently shown signs of being the “team to beat” in the league stage only to deceive in the knockout stages.
In the 2008-09 season, it topped the league table with an impressive 23 points. It stuttered a bit in the quarters against Bengal conceding a 39-run 1st innings but eventually prevailed winning the match by 8 wickets. It lost in the semis to U.P conceding the 1st innings lead thanks to some brilliant batting from Shivakant Shukla who scored an unbeaten 178.
In the 2009-10 season it once again topped the league table that also included Mumbai (19 points) going one better than the previous season with 26 points only to disappoint in the quarters against Delhi conceding the 1st innings lead. The fact that the Mumbai players were following the Delhi vs TN match and preferred facing a relatively weaker Delhi in the semis is in itself an indictment of the strength of the TN team.
The story was no different in the 2010-11 season. It finished 2nd in the league with 17 points. In the quarters against Haryana, the 1st innings was not completed, the match reaching a stalemate, TN going through by virtue of its superior net run rate. It lost to Rajasthan, the underdogs and the eventual champions in the semis.
The pattern has been repeating itself all over this season. At the end of the league stage, TN tops the league table (26 points) with some commanding performances. It has been slated to face Maharashtra in the quarters and is on course for a clash with Ranji powerhouse Mumbai in the semis. Will TN fall by the wayside or shed its ‘under-achiever’ tag to take home the Rs.2 crore prize money remains to be seen.
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Best chance yet for TN.
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