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The best Na Muthukumar lyric to sum up R Sai Kishore’s situation would be: “Eri malai vanthal kooda eri ninu por thodupom” (Even if a volcano erupts, will climb right on top of it and wage war). It is what Sai Kishore has been doing despite being overlooked for the Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup and India A squads. In the last four Ranji seasons, he has been among the best-performing spinners. But somehow, he was not just deemed surplus. It was as if the selectors had forgotten Sai Kishore existed.

On Tuesday, he sent another reminder, this time taking a hat-trick en route to a six-wicket haul to skittle out Uttarakhand for 113 and give Tamil Nadu an innings and 66-run win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. “I think இருக்கலாம் (maybe),” Sai Kishore said when asked if the hat-trick was the headline-seeking performance he needed to put himself in the limelight.

“But I don’t know what to say. I didn’t bowl to take a hat-trick. Was just doing my job. I think when I am very honest to myself and when I am working hard, I think God is giving me all these things. I already have a hat-trick in T20. Very happy to have one in first-class as well. My coach Ramkumar had a hat-trick for Tamil Nadu. So he always tells me, ‘You still don’t have a hat-trick.’ Now I think we are even,” the 29-year-old said.

When Uttarakhand began play on Day 3 after a 15-minute delay because of rain, they had a big task ahead of them. Still trailing TN by 170 runs, their only hope of preventing defeat was the weather. And like in the first innings, they kept losing wickets regularly before Sai Kishore induced a collapse after lunch.

But before Sai Kishore, it was S Ajith Ram who made the breakthrough in the morning session. When the two left-arm spinners operate in tandem, TN have looked every bit a challenging outfit. Last season, with Ajith Ram out injured, Sai Kishore had struggled to get support from the other end, often having to endure long spells. Here, Ajith Ram provided not just control, but also took on the role of enforcer, removing D Nischal and Kunal Chandela in successive overs just when they were beginning to frustrate the TN attack. Sai Kishore then removed J Suchith before Ajith Ram had Avneesh Sudha caught bat-pad as Uttarakhand went to lunch at 91/5.

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Thereafter, it was all Sai Kishore. For his hat-trick, he first bowled Lakshya Raichandani around his legs when he went for an expansive sweep to a delivery that landed on the rough. Off the next delivery, Baba Indrajith pouched a low catch at slip before Aditya Rawat nicked one to the wicketkeeper to hand Sai Kishore the hat-trick. By the time the Uttarakhand innings was over, the left-arm spinner had six wickets to show for his efforts.

“I think I’m someone who is very grateful for what I have in my life,” Sai Kishore said of the selection setbacks. “When I first played for Tamil Nadu, I never thought I would even play one season. Since I come from a non-cricketing background, I felt cricket is not the go-to thing. So, God has been very kind. Been able to play for Tamil Nadu for so long. And Indian cricket is filled with talent. To be fair, last year to my own benchmark, it wasn’t my best season. I still had like three, three-and-a-half wickets per game, but still, for my own standard, it wasn’t my best season. So, I just take it in my stride and focus on my performance,” Sai Kishore added.

After being omitted from the Duleep Trophy squad, Sai Kishore joined Gloucestershire for a county stint, where he was regularly among the wickets, with his dismissal of Ben Stokes even going viral. During the stint, Sai Kishore showed a different side to his bowling, delivering from different angles, including over the wicket to right-handers, even if it took LBW out of the equation. It is something he did during this fixture as well, and he credited MS Dhoni for it.

“I think that is something that I learned during my stint with CSK. MS Dhoni was heavy on that. But at that time I didn’t have that understanding to know what he was telling. Last two years, I’ve started embracing it. When bowling from different angles, my ball behaves differently and that is reaping rewards,” he said.

Last year during the IPL, he delivered a carrom ball, which he then tried in the Ranji Trophy, taking the wicket of Vidarbha’s Yash Rathod. Throw in the angles, with him using the crease to good effect, and Sai Kishore reckons it is essential these days.

“I think most bowlers should be having that control. Because we don’t have freedom we might think we cannot bowl it. I think once you open up, once you’re just playing for the team — I’m not doing it for myself — then you will start executing it,” he said.

The freedom that Sai Kishore speaks of is also a byproduct of how he dealt with rejection. With the likes of Manav Suthar climbing the radar, he felt the need to add more to his arsenal.

“I think the more I started exploring my game, I got freedom. Like, what can I actually do better? When you asked about setbacks, I was asking myself where can I get better, and that’s when I remembered what MS told me. So it was instinctive. I’m adding small, small puzzles to my bowling,” he added.

Brief scores: Uttarakhand 134 & 113 all out in 45.4 overs (R Sai Kishore 6/34, S Ajith Ram 4/33) lost to Tamil Nadu 313 by an innings & 66 runs. Pts: TN 7, Uttarakhand 0.

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