Vice-captain Rajat Patidar stood tall with an unbeaten century (110, 254b, 9x4) as Madhya Pradesh ended the opening day of its Ranji Trophy clash against Tamil Nadu on 214 for three at the NPR College grounds here on Thursday.
Electing to bat, Patidar had to walk in the second over of the day when pacer Mohammed removed opener Ankit Dane, caught driving at gully.
On what was a batsman-friendly wicket with little help for bowlers, Patidar drove authoritatively whenever the bowlers overpitched, playing some beautiful cover drives in his innings.
The right-hander quickly ensured MP seized the momentum in the first hour of the play with five boundaries to move to 26 before the first drinks break.
At the other end, Aryaman Vikram Birla, though not as fluent as Patidar, hung around to ensure MP did not lose wickets. The 21-year-old left-hander had a couple of streaky boundaries through the slip cordon to start and was given a reprieve early in the innings.
Among the pacers, Vijay Shankar looked the best, making good use of the extra bounce that was on offer from the pavilion end. He used the short ball sensibly and almost had Birla on 11 when the latter top-edged a hook only for Abhinav Mukund to spill it at fine leg.
Post lunch, Patidar moved from 46 to 54 with two boundaries off Vijay Shankar, the first a drive through mid-wicket to bring up his half-century. Birla slowly found his footing with some confident-looking shots — like a cut of Rahil Shah and pull over mid-wicket off Mohammed — and slowly got to his maiden First Class half-century.
However, Ashwin immediately had Birla dismissed, caught at silly point for the only wicket of the second session.
Skipper Naman Ojha looked good during his brief stay of 45, starting with a six sweeping Ashwin between the square leg and mid-wicket boundary and then hitting Rahil Shah over long-off.
However, Vijay Shankar was finally rewarded for his hard work when he got Ojha caught at slips driving towards the fag end of the day to give TN an opening with a new batsman at the crease for the second day.
The scores: Madhya Pradesh — 1st innings: Aryaman Vikram Birla c Anirudh b Ashwin 51, Ankit Dane c Aparajith b Mohammed 4, Rajat Patidar batting 110, Naman Ojha c Indrajith b Vijay Shankar 45, Shubham Sharma batting 0; Extras (nb-2, w-2): 4; Total (for three wickets in 89 overs): 214.
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-133, 3-211.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Tanwar 19-6-33-0, Mohammed 15-5-47-1, Ashwin 21-4-49-1, Vijay Shankar 12-4-27-1, Rahil Shah 18-0-53-0, Aparajith 4-1-5-0.