(Cricket News) Post their innings defeat in the semi-finals of the Ranji trophy, the Tamil Nadu coach Sulakshan Kulkarni made a bold statement, that their team lost the semi-finals right at the toss on Day 1.
Coach Kulkarni, threw the skipper Sai Kishore under the bus, saying that it was his call to bat first, while he was pretty sure that they should have bowled on the Day 1 track at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Tamil Nadu lost the match by an innings and 70 runs.
“I always speak straightforward – we lost the match at 9 o’clock on day one,” Kulkarni said after Tamil Nadu were handed an innings defeat by Mumbai inside three days at the Bandra Kurla Complex Ground. “The moment I saw the wicket I exactly knew what we were going to get.
“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,” said Kulkarni
The decision to bat first for Tamil Nadu did not go well and significantly backfired. They were all out for just 146 runs in the 1st innings. Their bowlers however made a comeback reducing Mumbai to 106/7, but Shardul Thakur had different plans. Shardul scored a spectacular century to bail Mumbai out of a very bad situation.
Dinesh Karthik, the India wicketkeeper, termed Kulkarni’s comments as “so wrong” and “disappointing”, while former TN captain Hemang Badani felt Kulkarni had “thrown Sai Kishore under the bus” with his comments in the aftermath of their defeat.
