da apostaganha： Hosts Tamil Nadu lost their opening match of the P Subbiah Pillay Trophy,Ranji Trophy South Zone One-Dayers against Karnataka by 33 runs at the MAChidambaram Stadium at Chepauk
Anand Vasu05-Dec-2000Hosts Tamil Nadu lost their opening match of the P Subbiah Pillay Trophy,Ranji Trophy South Zone One-Dayers against Karnataka by 33 runs at the MAChidambaram Stadium at Chepauk. After a damp outfield delayed the start ofthe game by 190 minutes, Tamil Nadu skipper Robin Singh won the toss andput Karnataka in to bat.The decision turned out to be a good one as Thirunavukarasu Kumaran reducedKarnataka to 0/2 at the end of the first over. A quick yorker got rid ofJAK Arunkumar and off the very next ball, the fifth of the innings, stumperTilak Naidu dragged the ball back onto his stumps. With two batsmen back inthe hut and no runs on the board, Mithun Beerala and India One-Day discardVijay Bharadwaj came together.Mixing occasional clean hits with some precise running between the wickets,the pair blunted the Tamil Nadu attack. The mediumpacers gave way to thespinners and there was still no respite for Tamil Nadu. Former Testoffspinner Aashish Kapoor was welcomed to the attack by sixes over long onfrom both batsmen. At 101/2, a half hearted shot from Bharadwaj saw himpresent a simple catch to Sadagoppan Mahesh and Kumaran had his third scalpof the match. Bharadwaj had made 47. In the company of Beerala, he hadadded 101 runs to the total.Just 2.4 overs later a very tired Beerala was run out by a good bit offielding from Robin Singh and it looked like the balance might swing inTamil Nadu’s favour. Beerala’s run a ball 53 included three boundaries andthe solitary six.Dodda Ganesh (31) added a late in the innings charge that included twolusty sixes and Karnataka ended their 32 overs on a healthy 171/9. Inresponse, the strong on paper Tamil Nadu batting line up lost its waycompletely. Barring a promising 24 from Ramesh and a steady 25 from RajatBhatia at the top of the order, no one in the top five made it to doublefigures. The two put on 48 for the second wicket and this turned out to bethe largest partnership of the innings. At 77/6 after 21.1 overs there waslittle hope for the home side. A lively 32 from Sridharan Sharath delayedthe inevitable even as Tamil Nadu ended on 138/9 after 32 overs. The hostsplay Goa tomorrow and need to get their act together in a hurry.