Abhinav Mukund fell one short of a century (99, 184b, 15x4) and Kaushik Gandhi hit an unbeaten 43 (172b, 7x4) as Tamil Nadu reached 154 for two at stumps on day two of the ninth and final round of the Group-A Ranji Trophy match at the KSCA stadium here. Gujarat was bowled out for 307.
Tamil Nadu took 26 overs in the morning to claim Gujarat’s last three wickets. After Aswin Crist had Axar Patel driving straight to Aparajith at cover, T. Natarajan bowled Hardik Patel for nought.
Chintan Gaja and Jasprit Bumrah sought to persist and prolong as Tamil Nadu turned impatient. Captain Abhinav then came on to bowl and ended the 81-ball last wicket stand as Gaja cut him straight to L. Suryapprakash at point.
Opener Suryapprakash, when Tamil Nadu batted, was dropped before he had opened his account by wicketkeeper Dhruv Raval off left-arm paceman Rush Kalaria. He then edged to second slip in Kalaria’s next over and looked like the bowler had deservedly got him, but it turned out to be a no-ball.
South paw Abhinav survived a confident shout for lbw off Bumrah when he played across the line and was struck on the left pad.
A couple of farcical events ensued. One, Tamil Nadu bowling coach L. Balaji, who was in front of the sight-screen to observe and analyse his batsmen, was asked to move away as he only ended up causing them hassle.
Two, the ground staff had accidentally, and briefly, turned the on-field water sprinklers on, and the umpires had to call lunch earlier than intended.
After lunch, Kalaria, switch to round the wicket and Suryapprakash edged to the ’keeper who didn’t miss this time. But the ’keeper did drop the new batsman Kaushik later, Kalaria being the bowler to suffer again.
Kaushik and Abhinav held on, and added 141 runs for the second wicket. The partnership, seemingly set to roll on to day three, was broken when Abhinav was bowled by Kalaria towards the fag end of the day.
Of all the fours that Abhinav hit, a finely timed, well-placed one off Gaja, that split mid-off and extra cover, and a sensible late-cut off Rujul were the stand-outs.
For Kaushik, a pull off Bumrah — after which the bowler dared him with more bouncers — was the most remarkable.
The scores:
Gujarat — 1st innings: Samit Gohil c Aushik b Crist 23, Priyank Panchal b Aparajith 113, Bhargav Merai lbw b Vijay Shankar 11, Rujul Bhatt lbw b Natarajan 12, Manpreet Juneja lbw b Aushik 25, Dhruv Raval b Aparajith 35, Axar Patel c Aparajith b Crist 44, Rush Kalaria b Natarajan 5, Chintan Gaja c Suryapprakash b Abhinav 20, Hardik Patel b Natarajan 0, Jasprit Bumrah (not out) 6; Extras (nb-10, w-1, lb-2): 13; Total (in 112 overs): 307.
Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-89, 3-109, 4-176, 5-216, 6-245, 7-258, 8-290, 9-295.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Aswin Crist 21-7-55-2, T. Natarajan 24-4-86-3, K. Vignesh 20-2-60-0, Aushik Srinivas 21-5-51-1, Vijay Shankar 7-1-21-1, B. Aparajith 18-4-31-2, Abhinav Mukund 1-0-1-1.
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: L. Suryapprakash c Raval b Kalaria 6, Abhinav Mukund b Kalaria 99, Kaushik Gandhi (batting) 43, B. Indrajith (batting) 0; Extras (nb-2, lb-4): 6; Total (for two wkts. in 66 overs): 154.
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-154.
Gujarat bowling: Rush Kalaria 14-5-34-2, Jasprit Bumrah 13-4-34-0, Chintan Gaja 12-5-33-0, Axar Patel 12-6-11-0, Rujul Bhatt 6-0-23-0; Hardik Patel 9-2-15-0.
