Daring effort: Indrajith and Vijay Shankar tried their best to topple the target.
| Photo Credit: M. VEDHAN
B. Indrajith has been Tamil Nadu’s man for the crisis for the last few years, and he came to the fore again against Karnataka on the final day of the Ranji Trophy match here on Monday. While he fell two runs short of a fine century, he managed to save the game and help his team get a crucial point.
“It was a challenging wicket but not unplayable. I like to use my feet, but today I wanted to work off the backfoot and take singles and twos because it was not an easy pitch to score boundaries,” said Indrajith about his knock.
“I didn’t expect to go for the target, but when Mohammed walked in at six, I got the message that we would take the game deep and go for it in the end,” Indrajith revealed.
“I was focused on getting the one point because it could become crucial,” he added.
“At the same time, I understood that when we gave them the feel that we were going for it, their lengths got altered and were not good. With five overs and 41 needed, I thought we would get it with the new ball, but they defended it well.”
Meanwhile, Vijay Shankar said, “I really wanted to cross the line today because four years ago, in the T20 (SMAT) final, I got the team very close but couldn’t cross the line. I think it’s one of the finest chases that you can see. Having come so close, you don’t want to just play it off. I wanted to back myself to hit a couple of sixes, but it was not an easy pitch to get those.”
TN coach Sulakshan Kulkarni was elated with the fightback from his team. “The team showed great character, and we made a match of it. After giving a 215-run lead, to almost chase 355 on a last-day pitch, it is a huge boost to our confidence, and the momentum is with us,” he said.
