His eyes following the flight of the ball as he sprinted from wide mid-on to deep mid-wicket, J. Kousik emerged with the sphere after a daring dive. Smit Patel, on 99, stood devastated. Fielders rushed towards Kousik, bowler Washington Sundar appeared relieved.
This was the pivotal moment of day one in the Ranji Trophy Group C duel between Tamil Nadu and Tripura at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday.
The visiting team was 244 for seven at stumps.
Kousik’s athleticism had ended a riveting 162-run fourth-wicket partnership in 297 deliveries between Smit (99, 177b, 12x4, 3x6) and Yashpal Singh (96, 190b, 13x4, 1x6). The duo had lifted Tripura from a wobbly 41 for three to 203 after tea, when the host struck against the run of play.
Yashpal fell when Ashwin lured him out with a lovely delivery of flight, drift and turn.
Earlier, the rather heavily built Yashpal was light on his feet. He skipped down and eased Ashwin through the covers and timed Sai Kishore for a stunning six over wide long-off. He played the ball late too, for runs behind point.
Smit challenged the bowlers and dominated them. His fearlessness was reflected in the manner he sashayed down and lofted Ashwin and Rahil Shah over long-off. He also employed the cut and the sweep.
Inserting Tripura under a cloud-cover, Tamil Nadu struck early through pacemen K. Vignesh and L. Vignesh.
Left-arm spinner Shah dismissed Rajesh Banik with a delivery that spun from middle to hit off.
Then came the Tripura fight back.
Vijay has stiff neck
For Tamil Nadu, Dinesh Karthik joined the side but M. Vijay missed out because of a stiff neck, as the hosts fielded an astonishing seven bowlers in all by playing debutant left-arm spinner Sai Kishore and pace-bowling all-rounder Kousik.
Off-spinner Washington, given a longer spell this time although he was introduced late, found some turn, bounce and success. K. Vignesh bowled with rhythm, his run-up, load-up and release in harmony, and Sai Kishore was tight.
Spearhead Ashwin, though, was searching for greater bite in his bowling for most part of the day.
Tamil Nadu clawed its way back in the final hour but has plenty of unfinished work.
The scores:
Tripura — Ist innings: Bishal Ghosh c Karthik b K. Vignesh 0, Udiyan Bose lbw b L. Vignesh 2, Rajesh Banik b Rahil 17, Smit Patel c Kousik b Washington 99, Yashpal Singh st Karthik b Ashwin 96, Abhijit Dey lbw b Washington 0, Gurinder Singh c Indrajith b K. Vignesh 13, M.B. Mura Singh (batting) 8, Rana Datta (batting) 0, Extras (b-5, lb-1, nb-2, w-1) 9; Total (for seven wkts in 90 overs) 244.
Fall of wkts: 1-0, 2-18, 3-41, 4-203, 5-208, 6-232, 7-244.
Tamil Nadu bowling: K. Vignesh 20-5-36-2, L. Vignesh 8-1-33-1, R. Ashwin 24-6-60-1, Rahil Shah 12-2-40-1, Sai Kishore 14-5-29-0, Washington Sundar 12-2-40-2 .
