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TN batsmen make Delhi bowlers pay
Delhi skipper Rajat Bhatia wasn’t off-target when he said on Wednesday that the Palam ground had, on most occasions, assisted batsmen.
Delhi skipper Rajat Bhatia wasn’t off-target when he said on Wednesday that the Palam ground had, on most occasions, assisted batsmen.
It did assist batsmen on Thursday, but unfortunately for Delhi, all of them were from Tamil Nadu.
For, at stumps on Day One of this Ranji Trophy quarterfinal, the visitors’ score read a healthy 278 for 4. Delhi went with the tried and tested formula and put the opposition in after winning the toss — a decision open to criticism.
The home team probably wanted to utilise the morning conditions but failed miserably as the Tamil Nadu openers, Abhinav Mukund and skipper Murali Vijay, piled on runs at will.
They batted with the aim of forging a partnership and did it with considerable ease as the wicket assisted their cause.
The left-right combination worked well for the visitors with southpaw Mukund and his skipper rotating the strike to frustrate the opposition.
Spinner Vikas Mishra was brought into the attack from the 16th over onwards, but that didn’t help, as the first session remained barren for Delhi. Batting at a leisurely pace, the duo put on 94 in the 32 overs before lunch. While Vijay scored 47, Mukund added 43 studded with seven fours.
Post lunch, however, things started looking up for Delhi with three wickets tumbling. Vijay departed soon after his momentum was broken by a short break.
The very next ball saw him taking the walk back, foxed by a Mithun Manhas delivery that kissed the bat on way to wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht’s gloves. That’s when the scoreboard read 110 for 1.
The other opener too didn’t stay long and fell to young left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra’s spin. His innings produced 73 runs and lasted almost four hours. Mishra, who was included in place of medium pacer Pawan Suyal, came up with another fine performance, claiming the prized wicket of Subramaniam Badrinath.
Looking to up the tempo, Badrinath hit a fine six over long-on and then attempted another one over mid-on.
However, this time around he failed. Sumit Narwal, who was patrolling the area, made no mistake and Badrinath was back on 15.
The third session too didn’t do any wonders for the hosts with K.B. Arun Karthik and Srikkanth Aniruddha forging a 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
And, it was only after the new ball was taken that Karthik fell. He was despatched by Pradeep Sangwan for 78 with Bisht doing the final honours.
Earlier, Bisht failed to latch on to a Karthik catch off Aditya Jain when he was batting on 65.
At stumps, Tamil Nadu were well-placed on 278 for 4 with Aniruddh batting on 41 and R. Ashwin on four.
