CHENNAI: Riding on half-centuries by Sukirt Pandey (73 batting) and Ninad Rathva (66), Baroda posted 247 for 5 in 90 overs against Tamil Nadu on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy match played at Salem on Thursday. Opting to bat on a surface that had some purchase for the bowlers, the visitors lost Jyotsnil Singh and Shashwat Rawat cheaply with both falling to the guile of J Hemchudeshan.
Later, Shivalik Sharma (35) and Sukirt forged a small partnership and looked like taking the team forward, when Hemchudeshan dismissed the former who was caught at silly point by C Andre Siddarth.
Tamil Nadu captain Sai Kishore keeping in mind the conditions brought in J Hemchudeshan early in the 10th over. The Srirangam-based bowler did not disappoint, bowled beautifully, rose to the challenge and with his guile troubled the Baroda top order.
He picked up three wickets in his first four overs. The teenager, who got to know that he would be playing on the eve of the match, gave a good account of himself. Before this he had played just one game this season for Tamil Nadu.
"Hemchudeshan bowled beautifully. There was a bit moisture in the wicket in the morning and the ball was turning a bit and he exploited the conditions well. This is his second game and he was not part of the previous games, but still he did not show any signs of rustiness and bowled with lot of confidence," complimented M Senthilnathan, red-ball coach of Tamil Nadu.
Hemchudeshan on his part was pleased to contribute to the team's cause and wishes to learn with every outing. "Pleased to get a couple of wickets and serve the team's cause. I got to know that I will play only on the morning of the match. But even while being out of the playing XI, I always prepare in earnest hoping that I will get a chance. So that regular preparation came in handy today," revealed Hemchudeshan.
For a brief while on Thursday morning, Hemchudeshan was almost unplayable. "The wicket was slightly helping the spinners and I used the surface to trouble the batters. But I also used the flight to deceive their batters. To a flighted delivery I foxed Shashwat to play a false stroke and had him stumped and this wicket gave me lot of satisfaction,'' he said.
Sai Kishore then joined Hemchudeshan and almost immediately accounted for Vishnu Solanki and this left the visitors in a spot of bother at 72 for four.
But once the pitch eased out after the moisture dried up, Rathva and Pandey were able to keep the scoreboard moving. Rathva played both the spinners and medium pacers effectively. When well set for a big score, he was trapped leg before by Sai Kishore.
After that Pandey and his captain Atit Sheth (45 batting) were involved in an unbroken 90-run stand for the sixth wicket in 36.3 overs and put Baroda back on track.
Senthilnathan was not satisfied with his team's show and expected them to fare better. But since the second new ball has been taken, he expects his medium pacers to make inroads on Friday morning. "Not fully satisfied, it could have been two more wickets. It would have been much better for us. Tomorrow morning I expect one or two early wickets. Then their bowlers will start coming into bat, so we should be able to get them out faster," the coach said.
Adding further, he said, "Today after initial success they (bowlers) did not get further purchase because the wicket was flat. It's as simple as that. Wicket has some moisture in the morning. After that, it has become very flat. So, see at the end of the day it was far easy to bat. But our boys are trying hard and as I said earlier, tomorrow morning they will get a couple of wickets and get them all out quicker."