Alignment of stars in Tamil Nadus favour

Back when India was ruled by the British,the province of Madras hosted its first ever Ranji trophy final at the Madras Cricket Club Ground in Chepauk

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

Back when India was ruled by the British,the province of Madras hosted its first ever Ranji trophy final at the Madras Cricket Club Ground in Chepauk. It was the 1940-41 season,and the locals had nervously poured into the stadium on that March day,piously praying for Madras to win its maiden title. Although the home side had once previously reached the final in 1936,the favourites for this battle were the opposition,Maharashtra.

Studded with the heavyweights of Indian cricket in Vijay Hazare,Dinkar Balwant Deodhar and Babasaheb Nimbalkar,to name a few,Maharashtra cantered to their second Ranji title by six wickets,in well under three days. It was their finest but final hour of glory.

Between then and now,the world has revolved around the Sun 71 times,and Maharashtra are back on the same piece of reclaimed land to play a Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match. But apart from the name of their team,everything with regard to that final clash has changed.

Team Madras is now Team Tamil Nadu while the Club Ground is the MA Chidambaram Stadium,which almost no one will visit over the next few days. But more importantly,it is the home side who flaunt the Indian cricket teams muscle,while Maharashtra are but a promoted side.

Of the four last-eight matches that will occur over the next few days,the TN-Maharashtra game is probably the most one-sided of the lot. Tamil Nadu havent put a foot wrong in the last two months,leading their group with 20 points,and having this uncanny ability to get the first-innings lead they have five of them in six games this campaign.

But most of all because,like Maharashtra in 1941,they have five former and current Team India players in their side.

Tamil Nadus Abhinav Mukund,Murali Vijay,Subramaniam Badrinath and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik have all represented India in the last couple of years; captain Laxmipathy Balaji did so in the last decade. It is by far their strongest collection since they last won the Ranji Trophy themselves,in 1988. Krishnamachari Srikkanth,VB Chandrasekhar,WV Raman,Bharat Arun,TA Sekar and L Sivaramakrishnan did what the current lot are expected to.

Story continues below this ad

We are not scared of anyone. They could be India players,but we have the confidence of getting past them and trying our luck at the trophy, says Maharashtras Ankit Bawne,who tops the sides run-charts with two centuries and as many fifties.

Rajasthan proved that miracles can happen.

In Chennai,thats just what it will take for Maharashtra captain Rohit Motwanis very young team to proceed past the TN wall. But Bawne will be happy to know that a quasi miracle has already occurred his statistics this season bear a great resemblance to that of Hazares when they last won the trophy.

Bawne has 512 runs this year,and led Maharashtra to the knockouts with a 137 and 26 in the Plate semifinals. Hazare had 500 runs that year,as he led his side to the trophy with a 137 and 6. They both scored the winning runs.