Tamil Nadu started off the New Year on an ideal note, but by the end of the opening day of its Ranji Trophy semifinal against Mumbai, Abhinav Mukund and his boys weren’t left with much to celebrate.
A combination of a rash stroke, disciplined bowling and an error of judgement by the umpire meant Mumbai had its nose ahead going into the second morning at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
On a typically flat Khanderi strip, Tamil Nadu mustered 261 for six against a Mumbai attack that couldn’t ask many questions of the batsmen for a better part of the day. However, the Tamil Nadu middle-order, not for the first time, saw a mini-collapse as four wickets fell for 53 runs, thus leaving the team reeling at 231 for six.
Vijay Shankar, the last of the recognised batsmen, then saw the day off with Aswin Crist playing the perfect foil.
Trigger point
B. Indrajith’s reckless shot selection prompted the collapse. Well past his fifty and mauling the Mumbai attack at will, Indrajith attempted a glance off one from Shardul Thakur that was pitched short and heading way down the leg stump and Aditya Tare dived to his left to latch on to a brilliant catch. That pulled Mumbai back into the game as the wicket was earned in the last over before tea.
Soon after the break, Kaushik Gandhi, the other half-centurion who was stifled by Abhishek Nayar and Thakur, got a thick inside edge to an incoming delivery from Nayar and the ball popped off the pads to Praful Waghela who came running in from a widish second slip.
The onus then lay on Dinesh Karthik to rescue the team. The senior pro looked in good nick, as was displayed in his punch off Thakur that sped to the cover-point fence. However, umpire Virender Sharma adjudged him leg-before off a reverse-swinging quick ball from Thakur that was heading way down the leg-side.
Vijay Gohil then forced a nick off B. Aparajith’s willow to Suryakumar Yadav in the slips to stamp Mumbai’s authority on the game. However, the first two sessions belonged to Tamil Nadu, thanks to an entertaining 114-run partnership between Kaushik and Indrajith.
Despite losing both the openers — debutant Ganga Sridhar Raju and captain Abhinav Mukund — in the first session, Kaushik and Indrajith appeared to be in little trouble, putting the bad balls away. Indrajith, especially, was in silken touch as he drove the Mumbai pacers and flicked the spinners at will.
It was a pity for Tamil Nadu that neither of the set batsmen could convert his innings into one that could be taken note of by the national selectors, two of whom watched the proceedings from the gallery.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Ganga Sridhar Raju c Tare b Nayar 19, Abhinav Mukund c Tare b Sandhu 38, Kaushik Gandhi c Waghela b Nayar 50, B. Indrajith c Tare b Thakur 64, Dinesh Karthik lbw b Thakur 16, Vijay Shankar (batting) 41, B. Aparajith c Suryakumar b Gohil 9, Aswin Crist (batting) 9; Extras (b-4, lb-4, nb-7): 15; Total (for six wkts. in 90 overs): 261.
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-68, 3-178, 4-188, 5-202, 6-231.
Mumbai bowling: Shardul Thakur 20-4-64-2, Balwinder Singh Sandhu 18-5-46-1, Abhishek Nayar 23-6-56-2, Akshay Girap 11-2-34-0, Vijay Gohil 18-3-53-1.
Toss: Tamil Nadu.
