CHENNAI: After Baroda posted a sizeable total of 375 in their first innings, Tamil Nadu began strongly, ending Day 2 at 118 for no loss in Salem on Friday. R Vimal Khumar — who came in as a last-minute replacement for vice captain N Jagadeesan — is batting at 66. Meanwhile, his opening patner SR Athish is unbeaten at 42.
Earlier, a captain's knock of Atit Sheth (109) and Akshay More's cameo helped visitors Baroda to that aforementioned score. Resuming from the overnight score of 247 for 5, Sheth with single minded devotion hung around to ensure that visitors went past the psychological 350-run mark. His fourth first-class hundred came at the right time as his innings gave an upper hand to his side on a surface that became batter-friendly. Teenager J Hemchudeshan was the pick of Tamil Nadu bowlers and his maiden fiver (6/120) came in handy to restrict Baroda to under 400 runs.
"Very happy to get my first five-wicket haul. I bowled better on Friday than Thursday. The wicket had eased out and was suitable for batting, so I kept it tight and bowled wicket to wicket. Plus at the other end Sai Kishore bowled brilliantly by attacking the batters and this in turn helped me. his words of encouragement too came in handy," Hemchudeshan told this daily after the day's play.
The Srirangam-based youngster has made the grade quickly than many players in his same age group with consistency for the state in the age group tournaments at the national level. He has been training both at home and Chennai regularly to sharpen his skill sets.
"I climbed the ladder in a systematic way. First I did well in the inter-districts, then for Tamil Nadu in the U-16, U-19 in the BCCI tournaments. Then I played in the Buchi Babu invitational tournament and then I finally for to play Ranji. So it has been a good learning experience," the 17-year-old added. The youngster went to credit Tamil Nadu's red-ball coach M Senthilnathan, his Chennai-based trainer Wilkins Victor and childhood coach Vinod Kumar for their support.
Senthilnathan praised the bowlers effort and believed that his young spinner will develop into a "classical" off-spinner. "You see, it was a good job considering the wicket was flat. They got 375 in almost 142 overs, which is not bad bowling by any stretch of imagination. We too got some 118 in 36 overs and the way our boys have began, I am sure the top order will consolidate on Saturday," the coach added.
He further went to assess Hemchudeshan's performance. "His wickets came due to spot on bowling. They (Baroda) were not trying to hit and got out. He was bowling tight and made them give catches in close position, deceiving them with flight (stumping) and couple of LBW's too. The way he took those kind of wickets, it feels good to see an off spinner from Tamil Nadu after a long time, who is able to control and bowl real classical off spin bowling. We hope he has a long career ahead," Senthilnathan said.
The former tamil Nadu top order batters wants the top-order batters to continue the good work.
"Our new opening pair (Athish, Vimal) did really well. As I said earlier, the youngsters should grab every opportunity they get. Both are in good touch and I hope they continue in the same vein tomorrow. They have adequate rest to recover and start fresh tomorrow. Plus we need about three runs an over to get the lead and I am sure our boys will respond to the challenge in a positive way," Senthilnathan signed off.