Abhinav Mukund (86, 112b, 10x4, 1x6) and N. Jagadeesan (61 batting, 149b,10x4) guided Tamil Nadu to a respectable 250 for seven against Saurashtra on the opening day of their Group B Ranji Trophy clash at the SCA grounds here on Wednesday.
The wicket was expected to be batsmen-friendly, but it had something in it for the bowlers too. That prompted the Tamil Nadu openers, Abhinav and L. Suryapprakash, to begin cautiously in the opening session. With the medium-pacers, including himself, unable to find a breakthrough, Saurashtra captain Jayadev Unadkat turned to Dharmedrasinh Jadeja.
Paying dividends
The move worked rightaway as the left-arm spinner had Suryapprakash snapped up at forward short-leg by Kishan Parmar. Abhinav, at the other end, went about things in business-like fashion. The southpaw, who had hammered a double hundred against Baroda in Vadodara recently, paced his innings well and reached his half-century before lunch.
Kaushik Gandhi provided solid support, taking the singles and rotating the strike, as the two added 53 for the second wicket before Kaushik flashed at a Prerak Mankad outswinger and edged to Harvik Desai at second slip.
Abhinav, however, continued to build the innings, this time in the company of Ganga Sridhar Raju. Though caution seemed to be the watchword, his clever shot-selection kept the scoreboard ticking.
The post-lunch session saw Saurashtra hit back strongly. Unadkat, who had worked hard with no reward, took two wickets in two overs, including the prized one of Abhinav. Though Ganga Sridhar and Abhinav were both adjudged leg-before, the latter was not too pleased with the decision.
The other pacer, Chirag Jani, accounted for skipper B. Aparajith before Unadkat prised out debutant Jaganath Sinivas cheaply soon after tea to leave the visitors staring down the barrel at 181 for six.
N. Jagadeesan, familiar to such situations, displayed a cool head and forged a crucial 62-run stand for the seventh wicket with Sai Kishore (27). Though the latter fell to Chirag, Jagadeesan carried on the good work to take Tamil Nadu to 250 for seven at stumps.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Abhinav Mukund lbw b Unadkat 86, L. Suryapprakash c Kishan b Dharmendrasinh 10, Kaushik Gandhi c Desai b Prerak 17, Ganga Sridhar Raju lbw b Unadkat 13, B. Aparajith c Barot b Chirag 20, N. Jagadeesan (batting) 61, R.S. Jaganath Sinivas c Barot b Unadkat 1, Sai Kishore c Vishavaraj b Chirag 27, M. Mohammed (batting) 1; Extras (nb-2, w-1, b-8, lb-3): 14; Total (for seven wkts. in 90 overs): 250.
Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-102, 3-127, 4-132, 5-174, 6-181, 7-243.
Saurashtra bowling: Unadkat 13-4-25-3, Kushang 19-1-58-0, Chirag 20-6-44-2, Dharmendrasinh 23-5-72-1, Prerak 15-3-40-1.