CHENNAI: Karan Lamba's century (103 batting) and Rohan Rajbhar's 95 on Ranji debut came in handy for Rajasthan to post 286/4 in 85 overs against Tamil Nadu on Day one of the Elite Group D Ranji Trophy match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday.
Tamil Nadu got a big boost with the presence of India all-rounder Washington Sundar and the last minute inclusion of India opener Sai Sudharsan, who was released from his India 'A 'duties in Puducherry to play the Ranji Trophy. TN opted for five batters in Sai Sudharsan, B Indrajith, Andre Siddarth, Pradosh Ranjan Paul and Nidhish Rajagopal, They had a wicket-keeper batter in N Jagadeesan, two allrounders in Washington Sundar and Sonu Yadav. Then, skipper Sai Kishore was the lone specialist spinner with pacers Saravana Kumar and Deepesh D completing the bowling attack.
Opting to bat, Rajasthan had a brief blip with opener Sachin Yadav falling leg before to Saravana in the first ball of the second over.
After that Rajbhar and Sumit Godara applied themselves and played to the merit of the ball. They duo played as straight as possible and did not give room for the Tamil Nadu bowlers to make any inroads till lunch. However, Sumit’s innings ended on 49 just after the break.
But Rajbhar and Karan formed a strong partnership for the third wicket (125) to frustrate the TN bowlers. Skipper Sai Kishore brought himself and Sundar into the attack.
Although it was Rohan's First Class debut, he played with a lot of maturity. He used his feet well and played Sai Kishore – TN's most experienced bowler – with finesse. Nidhish Rajagopal was given the ball for a few overs in hopes of a breakthrough, but that was not to be. Rajbhar’s innings came to a heartbreaking end, as he fell five runs short of his ton. He gloved to the wicket keeper Jagadeesan off a smart one from Saravana.
Pacer Sonu gave a lowdown of the day's play. "Both Rohan and Karan played well. Saravana Kumar bowled well in the morning and later too he got good breaks. He bowled a good line and length and hit the deck in the right areas. But the wicket slowed down a bit as the game progressed," Sonu told this daily after day’s play. "Both Saravana and I were able to extract from the surface. Our spinners tried hard but the surface was flat and not helpful," he added.
Ahead of Day 2 on Monday, the pacer believed that they could inflict damage. The first step to it is to get Karan out in the morning. "We hope to get both Karan and Mahipal (Lomror) out quickly tomorrow (Monday) and restrict them under a chasable score," he said. He believed that Tamil Nadu, with the depth in their batting, can give a sound reply.
"We are confident to get them all out as early as possible and chase down the same. We have a solid batting line up and I am sure the batters will do well. I will have to play my role by chipping in with some useful runs down the order. I have been constantly working on improving my batting and being useful for the team," he signed off.