Batting is a lot about application. The fancied Tamil Nadu batting — B. Aparajith apart —lacked this essential quality at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
It was the day of the underdog. Andhra, backing belief with clinical efficiency, dismissed Tamil Nadu for 176 on day one of their Ranji Trophy duel.
There was bounce all through and some turn, but by no stretch of imagination was it a venomous wicket.
Useful stand
Tamil Nadu’s plight could have been worse but for the last wicket stand of 36 — the highest association of the innings — between Rahil Shah and K. Vignesh.
In fact, the final two wickets gathered 62 valuable runs. The outfield was slow and there was some reverse swing because of the dry conditions but the front-line Tamil Nadu batsmen let themselves down with some casual strokeplay.
Tamil Nadu could not put together sizable partnerships, the heart of any innings which hurt the host.
Earlier, Aparajith (51, 137b, 4x4) curbed his natural attacking instincts. Even as wickets fell, he was composed and balanced and played the ball late.
He departed top-edging a sweep to mid-on off left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt — the ninth wicket. Bhatt kept things tight, got the odd ball to turn and picked up four wickets.
This was a day when the Andhra attack hummed and the fielding was sharp. Medium-pacer B. Ayyappa demanded attention with his compelling off-stump line and two-way movement. He also used the crease capably, getting close to the stumps for the delivery that moved away or going a tad wider for the incoming ball.
Ayyappa took out two big guns — M. Vijay with a delivery that left the batsman and R. Ashwin, right after lunch, by bringing one in.
The short seamer doesn’t have a long run-up, but gathers momentum with every stride and has a nice side-on release.
His pace partner, the lively left-armer Y. Prithviraj, surprised and prised out Abhinav Mukund with a well-directed lifter and sent back Washington Sundar with a short ball that was guided into the slip cordon.
Prithviraj brings with him the left-armer’s angle, possesses a quick-arm action, and gets the ball to hurry off the track.
Kaushik Gandhi and Indrajith fell after getting starts. Indrajith, in fact, threw it away after charging Bhatt. He was caught spectacularly by Ashwin Hebbar at long-off.
Andhra was full of beans.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Abhinav Mukund c & b Prithiviraj 11, M. Vijay c Prashanth Kumar b Ayyappa 4, M. Kaushik Gandhi c Bharat b Shoaib Mohammad 22, B. Indrajith c Hebbar b Bhatt 19, B. Aparajith c Venugopala Rao b Bhatt 51, R. Ashwin b Ayyappa 9, M.S. Washington Sundar c Venugopala Rao b Prithviraj 14, N. Jagadeesan c Vihari b Bhatt 0, L. Vignesh lbw b Bhatt 0, Rahil Shah c Bharat b Prithviraj 15, K. Vignesh (not out) 25; Extras (nb-2, b-1, lb-3): 6, Total (in 85 overs): 176.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-15, 3-41, 4-73, 5-88, 6-111, 7-112, 8-114, 9-140.
Andhra bowling: B. Ayyappa 21-10-31-2, Y. Prithviraj 15-2-39-3, A. Hebbar 4-1-11-0, B. Bhatt 30-7-52-4, S. Mohammad 13-1-34-1, B. Sumanth 2-1-5-0.
Andhra — 1st innings: D.B. Prashath Kumar (batting) 1, K.S. Bharat (batting) 7; Total (for loss in three overs): 8.
Tamil Nadu bowling: R. Ashwin 2-0-8-0, K. Vignesh 1-1-0-0.
Toss: Tamil Nadu.