Clarity of what to do helped, says skipper Siddharth

TNCA President's XI skipper M. Siddharth leads his team to a comeback win with clarity and intentful strategy.

A come-from-behind win in a First-Class match may be an onerous task, but it helps that it’s always a clear-cut one. The trailing team knows exactly what needs to be done. TNCA President’s XI skipper and left-arm spinner M. Siddharth highlighted that clarity as his team’s rallying force in its turnaround win by five wickets over Gujarat here on Thursday.

“We let them get away with a few partnerships in their first innings. When it came to their second innings, we knew what to do,” he said after the win.

“When we got out for 211 (to Gujarat’s 371 in the first innings), we had only one thing in mind — that we need to get them out for at least 100 runs. We thought, ‘If we do that, we are in the game.’

“The message to our team was to get them bowled out for as fewer runs as possible within the 100-run mark (Gujarat folded for 58). It was conveyed that only then, we’ll be in the game. And I felt that they were short of a spinner. So, we thought we’ll take advantage of that. We thought if it’s less than 250 (219 was the target), it’ll be our advantage.”

Siddharth himself took up the responsibility and single-handedly turned it around for his team with his eight for 21 in Gujarat’s second innings.

He said that he has better match awareness after his stint with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the last Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

“I feel that I understand situations better after coming back (from the LSG camp in IPL 2024).”