Chennai: A resourceful R. Prasanna (56*, 133b, 8x4s) alongside an assertive Vijay Shankar (57*, 130b, 8x4s) enabled Tamil Nadu post 231 for the loss of five wickets against Rajasthan in the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match here on Sunday. If not for the rescue act of the duo, the home side would have been in an embarrassing position at stumps.
The gritty left-hander Prasanna was at it again in the middle-order after the pace of Pankaj Singh had left the hosts gasping at 99 for five. Rajasthan would rue the missed opportunity when Prasanna edged Aniket Choudhary to gully when he was on 46. Ashok Menaria grassed the chance to help the Tamil Nadu batsman reach his 50. Soon, bad light ended play with the completion of 80 overs.
Vijay, featuring only in his second match of the season, added 132 runs in 249 balls for the sixth wicket with Prasanna and not once did he look out of place amidst a bunch of over-appealing Rajasthan close-in fielders. In hindsight, TN think tank’s decision to include Vijay in place of a pacer proved to be a masterstroke.
Prasanna was hardly troubled by off-spinner Ramesh Powar while Vijay was successful in blunting the spell of Pankaj right after tea, which took the sting out of the Rajasthan attack. The dominance of the pair became obvious, as the shadows later in the day.
Aggressive running between the wickets, some drives and cuts with odd boundaries were the order of the day. On the whole, it wasn’t a partnership that scorched the turf but one that was effective enough to help their team sneak ahead in the contest.
Opting to bat, TN lost K.B. Arun Karthick (4) to an “off-cutter that bounced,” as Pankaj recalled after the day’s play. The bounce Pankaj generated from a pitch that was deemed to be a turner astounded everyone present in the ground.
The experienced pair of Abhinav Mukund and S. Badrinath took on the mantle of building the innings. In between a few misses, there were some stylish flicks and drives from both Abhinav and Badri as they completed their 50-run partnership. Powar, who tried hard most of the day, trapped the left-hander in front. At the other end, Badrinath notched up yet another gritty half-century unnoticed.
The move to bring back strike bowler Pankaj just before lunch was on the expected lines but seldom could one have predicted the goods he delivered. He punched a huge hole in TN top-order by removing B. Aparajith (8). Dinesh Karthik walked in only to see a big in-dipper thudding on to his pads for a first-ball duck. Pankaj claimed the last wicket of the day when he removed a well-set Badri (50, 102b, 7x4s) with a ball that jagged back in to castle his off-stump just after lunch. His fiery five-over spell (5-3-13-3) caught the hosts off-guard.
SCOREBOARD
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): K.B. Arun Karthick c Chetan Bist b Pankaj 4, Abhinav Mukund lbw b Powar 26, S. Badrinath b Pankaj 50, B. Aparajith c Chetan Bist b Pankaj 8, K. Dinesh Karthik lbw b Pankaj 0, R. Prasanna (batting) 56, Vijay Shankar (batting) 57. Extras: (b8, lb10, nb 12) 30. Total (for five wickets in 80 overs) 231.
FoW: 1-7, 2-82, 3-97, 4-97, 5-99
Bowling: Pankaj Singh 16-5-41-4, Aniket Choudhary 16-3-40-0, Arishta Singhavi 16-4-56-0, Ramesh Powar 28-4-67-1, Ashok Menaria 4-1-9-0.
