DINDIGAL, Dec 13: Going by their pathetic performance in their first match of the new season last week, hosts Tamil Nadu will go into their second Group A league outing against J&K in the Ranji trophy cricket championship to be played from tomorrow in this town famous for lock manufacturing.
This B city in Madurai District which has produced a few cricketers for Tamil Nadu, is hosting a Ranji Trophy match for the first time. A dons cast Tamil Nadu and a buoyant Jammu and Klashmir who knocked up a historic victory against Mumbai in their season opener are already here. The visiting team had a session at the nets in the morning.
The pressure will be on Tamil Nadu as much as on J&K looking at the contest in terms of knowledge about the pitch. For, the venue, a college, will have a new turf befitting the standard of the competition. But in terms of performance before coming into this game, the pressure will be more on Tamil Nadu. They drew a blank against Karnataka suffering one of their worst defeats in the natioinal championships. They lost the match outright chasing 300 odd runs and collapsing for a palty 82. Tamil Naldu skipper all rounder R Prasanna would have to ‘unlock’ real good strategy to put the team back on rails.
For Jammu and Kashmir, who are not complacent, the onus will again be on the stars of their win against 41 time Ranji winners Mumbai century maker Khajuria, Hardeep and bowler Datal who returned with a bag of five wickets when Mumbai chased a target and failed in the second innings. J&K had won by four wickets to gain full points against none for Tamil Nadu against Karnataka. (UNI)
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