Image Credit- PTI
Coach Sulakshan
Kulkarni’s statement that his team lost the match at the toss on the opening
day has now shocked Tamil Nadu’s campaign, which ended in heartbreak in the
semi-finals.
Kulkarni made it quite evident that the captain, R Sai Kishore, made the
decision to bowl first despite the general consensus and his own understanding
of the circumstances having played and coached for Mumbai.
“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.”
The India
wicketkeeper, Dinesh Karthik, called Kulkarni’s remarks
“disappointing” and “so wrong”, while former captain of TN,
Hemang Badani, believed Kulkarni had “thrown Sai Kishore under the
bus” with his remarks following their defeat.
Sai Kishore’s choice to bat first proved to be a disastrous one, as TN was
struggling at 42 for 5. In the end, they were bowled out for 146. They then had
Mumbai reeling at 106 for 7, but Shardul Thakur’s century pulled Mumbai out of
a precarious position. After all, they scored 378 to virtually guarantee that
TN would be eliminated from the game.
“When I saw
that they had played on a different pitch in the quarter-final and what wicket
they gave, I realised that this is a seaming-friendly wicket and it was going
to be a very tough match, and we would have to play really well to win this
game,” Kulkarni said. “Ultimately he [Sai Kishore] is the boss. I can
give my feedback and inputs (on) the kind of wickets and Mumbai’s mindset.
“When you get into the first over, where the third (fourth) ball, your
international player gets out and you see the situation… in the first hour,
it’s difficult. We lost the plot in the first hour, it’s very difficult to come
back from there.”