JOIN US After hitting the winning runs against Uttar Pradesh in the tense Vijay Hazare quarterfinal clash, Tamil Nadu all-rounder Rajagopal Satish was a relieved man.
Even as wickets fell from the other end to take things down to the wire, Satish kept his calm and essayed a brilliant cameo that saw his team cross the victory line.
Speaking about the match, Satish said: “I expected it to be a close game but not to this extent.”
Satish added that he wanted to make sure he stays unbeaten right till the end and not repeat the mistakes that he had committed in the past. “In many games in the past, I have got out during such scenarios and we have ended up losing. So this time I wanted to stay in the middle and make it count for my team.”
Tamil Nadu crashed out in the league stages of the Ranji Trophy with an ordinary performance but they have been a different unit altogether in this competition, reaching the semifinals. Satish attributed their good run to the presence of senior members Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay in the side.
“The presence of Ashwin and Vijay has helped a lot. They are coming straight from the South Africa series and they have given their full effort and that is a motivation for the players,” he said.
Commenting on his own performance, the 34-year old said: “I am pretty happy to win games for Tamil Nadu and want to continue my good show in the upcoming games."
Going into the semifinals, Satish said his team is charged up. “We were charged up right from the group stage. Close games like these do happen. We lost a game against Punjab despite being in a good situation and Ashwin was there with us even in that match, backing the players. We just want to play good cricket and nothing else.”