Malolan Rangarajan’s fighting knock of 93 on a turning track gave the host the upper hand against Jammu & Kashmir on the first day of the Ranji Trophy group-A match at the NPR College grounds here on Sunday.
The off-spinner returned to finish the day with a wicket in the last over to leave Jammu & Kashmir reeling at 28 for three in reply to the host’s score of 254 in the first innings.
Coming in after lunch at 130 for six, Malolan made his intentions very clear, slog-sweeping his very first ball, off Parveez Rasool, for a boundary.
It was 144 for seven when wicket-keeper U. Sushil, playing in place of an injured Vijay Shankar, got out to Waseem Raza, who finished with a five-wicket haul.
With L. Balaji holding his end, Malolan took the attack to both the spinners, using his height to good effect.
His knock of 93 of just 75 balls (13x4, 3x6) helped Tamil Nadu reach 254.
Early troubleElecting to bat after winning the toss, Tamil Nadu lost the first wicket to the fourth ball of the day when Kaushik Gandhi was caught down the leg side off Samiullah Beigh.
With speedster Ram Dayal, who took eight wickets in the match against Mumbai, sitting out due to a thumb injury, the burden of taking wickets fell on the spinners, and they didn’t disappoint.
On a dry surface, Tamil Nadu batsmen found the going difficult against left-arm spinner Raza and off-spinner Rasool.
Baba Aparajith played on and Dinesh Karthik was undone by the bounce; playing forward, Karthik was brilliantly caught off the glove at silly-point by a juggling Hardeep Singh.
The bounce and sharp turn from the wicket also ended Abhinav Mukund’s two-hour vigil as he gloved one down the leg-side to wicket-keeper Obaid Haroon after making 35.
Raza accounted for three wickets to reduce the host to a precarious 67 for four.
It became 101 for five at the stroke of lunch when skipper R. Prasanna was run out for the second time in two matches; after Baba Indrajith sent him back, Prasanna fell short as the ’keeper pulled off a brilliant back-handed flick.
Balaji felicitatedEarlier in the day, L. Balaiji was felicitated for playing his 100th First Class match by TNCA secretary, K.S. Viswanathan.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Kaushik Gandhi c Obaid Haroon b Samiullah Beigh 0, Abhinav Mukund c Obaid Haroon b Waseem Raza 35, Baba Aparajith b Waseem Raza 5, Dinesh Karthik c Hardeep Singh b Waseem Raza 9, B. Indrajith c Hardeep Singh b Parveez Rasool 37, R. Prasanna run out 16, U. Sushil c Shubham Khajuria b Waseem Raza 28, Malolan Rangarajan c Obaid Haroon b Samiullah Beigh 93, L. Balaji c Shubham Khajuria b Manik Gupta 9, Rahil Shah (not out) 6, Aushik Srinivas c Obaid Haroon b Waseem Raza 2, Extras (b-9, lb-3, nb-1, w-1): 14; Total (in 80.2 overs): 254.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-36, 4-67, 5-101, 6-130, 7-144, 8-193, 9-247.
Jammu & Kashmir bowling: Samiullah Beigh 8-2-23-2, Umar Nazir 6-1-15-0, Parveez Rasool 31-4-100-1, Waseem Raza 30.2-14-68-5, Manik Gupta 5-0-36-1.
Jammu & Kashmir — 1st innings: Shubham Khajuria c Kushik Gandhi b Aushik Srinivas 8, Adil Rishi c Aushik Srinivas b Rahil Shah 3, Bandeep Singh (not out) 3, Manik Gupta b Malolan Rangarajan 10, Extras (b-4): 4 Total (for three wickets in 15.3 overs): 28.
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-15, 3- 28.
Tamil Nadu bowling: L. Balaji 3-1-8-0, Rahil Shah 5-1-10-1, Aushik Srinivas 5-3-2-1, Malolan Rangarajan 2.3-1-4-1.
