Tamil Nadu lost the Ranji Trophy semi-finals to Mumbai by an innings and 70 runs, after which TN coach blamed captain Sai Kishore for the loss.
In the second semi-final of Ranji Trophy 2024, Mumbai defeated Tamil Nadu by an innings 70 runs. There were high expectations from the Tamil Nadu side this season. They had topped their group in the league phase and defeated the favourites Saurashtra in the quarter-finals by an innings margin.
But, the Sai Kishore-led side lost steam in the semi-final. They were on the back-foot right from the first session of Day 1. It seemed like the toss was the only thing that went their way throughout the course of the match. After the massive loss, TN coach Sulakshan Kulkarni blamed team’s captain R Sai Kishore for it.
“I always speak straightforward – we lost the match at 9 o’clock on day one. The moment I saw the wicket I exactly knew what we were going to get,” Kulkarni said after Tamil Nadu lost the game inside three days at the Bandra Kurla Complex Ground, Mumbai.
“Everything was set, we won the toss, as a coach, as a Mumbaikar, I know the conditions well. We should have bowled but the captain had some different instinct,” Kulkarni added.
This is soo WRONG
This is so disappointing from the coach ..instead of backing the captain who has brought the team to the semis after 7 yrs and thinking it’s a start for good things to happen, the coach has absolutely thrown his captain and team under the bus
👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽 https://t.co/Ii61X7Ajqs
— DK (@DineshKarthik) March 5, 2024
RCB wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik backed TN captain Sai Kishore and termed the comments made by the coach as wrong as disappointing.
“This is soo WRONG. This is so disappointing from the coach ..instead of backing the captain who has brought the team to the semis after 7 yrs and thinking it’s a start for good things to happen, the coach has absolutely thrown his captain and team under the bus,” Karthik tweeted on X.
Sai Kishore’s decision to bat first backfired as Tamil Nadu were reduced to 42-5 in their first innings on conditions favourable for seam bowling. The captain tried his best with the ball by picking up 6 wickets but that was not enough as Mumbai posted a mammoth first innings score of 378. Tamil Nadu could score only 162 in their second innings.
R Sai Kishore had an outstanding season with the ball as he picked up 53 wickets in 15 innings at an average of 18.52. He bowled well in the semi-final as well but lacked support from the other bowlers.
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