Ranji Trophy: Toiling Tamil Nadu fast bowlers find sparse success

Tamil Nadu’s fast bowlers toiled away with a disciplined line and length, but their inability to rattle the opposition line-up in the first half of the day hurt their side.

Tamil Nadu’s fast-bowling trio – T. Natarajan, M. Mohammed and Abhishek Tanwar – have taken five wickets between them in 63 overs.

Tamil Nadu’s fast-bowling trio – T. Natarajan, M. Mohammed and Abhishek Tanwar – have taken five wickets between them in 63 overs.

For the best part of the day, they kept pegging away with disciplined lines and lengths, but their failure to rattle the opposition line-up in the first session contributed to their relative lack of success.

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The fast-bowling unit created numerous chances for dismissals, but breakthrough was elusive for the most part. “The ball wasn’t swinging as much as yesterday, and once the sun shone brightly, there was no swing whatsoever,” left-arm seamer T. Natarajan told Sportstar at the end of Day Two.

The plan was simple. “I was trying to bowl in the good areas – on a good length, and stump to stump.”

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Natarajan has taken two wickets so far. He accounted for G. K. Singh, who was caught in the slips early in the morning session, and later, Raghav Dhawan, who had been a thorn in the flesh of the bowling side with his staid batting.

Nikhil Gangta (43, 76b, 8X4), too, was instrumental in shifting the momentum in favour of Himachal. Talking about his innings, Natarajan said, “Gangta was shouldering arms to nearly every delivery outside off-stump. It didn’t matter whether the ball swung or not.”

Natarajan admitted the bowlers did tire towards the end of the day. Behind by 113 runs with five wickets still to take, there is much catch-up to be done by his side, on Day Three.