Yet again, Tamil Nadu made a mess at the top of the innings after winning the toss before skipper B. Indrajith (87) and debutant M. Shahrukh Khan (82 batting) saved the day with fighting half-centuries to take the home side to a respectable total of 249 for six against Kerala in their Ranji Trophy match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

The TN innings mirrored the script of the Indian innings in Adelaide as the team was quickly reduced to 31 for four with pacers Sandeep Warrier and Basil Thampi cleaning up the top order with two wickets each.

Indrajith and Jagadeesan then steadied things a bit before the latter was caught at short-leg at the stroke of lunch to leave TN reeling at 81 for five.

Indrajith, who has had three quiet matches after a ton in the first, and Shahrukh added 103 runs for the sixth wicket.

Early strike

Earlier, Warrier struck with the second ball of the day, trapping opener Abhinav Mukund leg-before for a first ball duck before uprooting B. Aparajith’s middle stump.

At the other end, Thampi accounted for opener Kaushik Gandhi and Dinesh Karthik with identical deliveries outside the off-stump, inducing a false drive resulting in simple catches to Arun Karthick at first slip.

Indrajith was strong off his pads — he started off with a boundary to the mid-wicket fence and a four from a similar shot took him to 49 — off the pacers while he used nimble footwork to counter the two left-arm spinners and an off-spinner.

Showing no nerves

Shahrukh, at the other end, showed no nerves for someone making a debut after waiting in the wings for better part of the last four years.

The 23-year-old played authoritatively, getting on to the front foot with his punchy style of stroke-making.

He opened with a pull to mid-wicket before giving the charge to spinners to pick a six and a few boundaries. He got to his fifty in style with another pull to the mid-wicket fence.

The duo ensured TN did not lose a wicket in the second session, scoring 96 runs in 28.2 overs. After tea, with some reverse swing, Warrier provided a crucial breakthrough with an incoming delivery to Indrajith who inside-edged on to his pad and then to the bail when the batsman was 13 short of what would have been a well-deserved 100.

However, Shahrukh and Mohammed played sensibly in the last session with a 65-run unbeaten partnership.

The scores:

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Abhinav Mukund lbw b Warrier 0, Kaushik Gandhi c Arun Karthick b Thampi 16, B. Aparajith b Warrier 3, B. Indrajith b Warrier 87, Dinesh Karthik c Arun Karthick b Thampi 4, N. Jagadeesan c Rahul b Jalaj 21, M. Shahrukh Khan (batting) 82, M. Mohammed (batting) 25; Extras (nb-1, b-4, lb-6): 11; Total (for six wkts. in 90 overs): 249.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-19, 3-23, 4-31, 5-81, 6-184.

Kerala bowling: Warrier 21-7-42-3, Thampi 15-3-53-2, Akshay 13-2-30-0, Jalaj 25-1-77-1, Joseph 16-1-37-0.

Toss: Tamil Nadu.