Ranji Trophy final, TN v Rajasthan, 3rd day: It's Rajasthan's game to lose

Vineet Saxena continued to frustrate the TN bowlers on the third day.

Tamil Nadu were in trouble at the end of the third day of the Ranji trophy final as they lost three of their top-order batsmen in response to Rajasthan’s first innings score of 621.

Vineet Saxena and Robin Bist resumed play for Rajasthan as the mandatory new ball was taken. After two days of crawling and conservative approach, there was finally some positive batting display by the Rajasthan batsmen as they resumed play from 404-2 on the third day.

Saxena, who had been using non violence as his motto over the past two days, continued to frustrate the Tamil Nadu bowlers. Making things worse was Vasudevadas’ drop catch standing at the third slip when Saxena was on 217. He then went on to make 257 off 662 balls, a 908 minute effort that placed Rajasthan in a position of command. He then tried to create room and play the ball that spun in on the off-side only to see his stumps rattled. Tamil Nadu players ran up to him congratulating his effort.

By then, the 18-year old Srinivas had the most number of overs by a Tamil Nadu bowler in a final surpassing Sunil Subramaniam, who had bowled 69 overs.

A sudden collapse followed as Rajasthan lost four of their middle order batsmen for 32 runs. Srinivas was finally rewarded for his patience as he devoured three of the four batsmen.

Post lunch came some entertaining stuff from Pankaj Singh and Rituraj Singh in a match that threatened to go into the list of one of the most boring Ranji finals. Their aggressive batting took Tamil Nadu past the total of 600.

Rajasthan were finally dismissed before tea when Gajendra Singh looked to play across and was trapped in front. Rajasthan concluded their first innings after accumulating a mammoth 621 on the board. Their innings spanned for 1168 minutes.

According to the rule-list, if the final doesn’t produce a result, the winner will be determined based on one of the following conditions:

• they have to secure a first innings lead.
• if the first innings doesn’t get over and the team batting second bats for more than 30 overs, the side with a better run rate will be declared winners. (If the team batting second faced less than 30 overs, the trophy will be shared.)

The challenge for Tamil Nadu as Abhinav Mukund and Murali Vijay walked in to bat post-tea therefore, was to bat out the next six sessions with a better run-rate or to secure a lead.

Rituraj got Mukund in the second over as he tried to work an in-swinger on the onside. However, the replays suggested that the ball might have missed the leg-stump.

An almost similar wicket fell at the other end as Badrinath tried to drive a full-length delivery, missing it completely, only to be caught in front. Murali Vijay was dismissed soon leaving Tamil Nadu tottering at 24 for 3. However, Dinesh Karthik and Vasudevadas stilled the nerves by batting out the rest of the day without losing a wicket.

The three year old pitch is occasionally threatening to keep low and slow later in the day making it difficult for the batsmen. Having toiled in the field for more than eight sessions, it must be seen if the Tamil Nadu players still have the fuel in the tank to bat through the next two days.