CHENNAI: An unbeaten century by Mikhil Jaiswal (137 n.o) and Tanmay Agarwal’s ton (135) propelled Hyderabad to make a challenging 395 in 115 overs against Tamil Nadu on the second day of the Ranji Trophy game played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.
Tamil Nadu replied back strongly and was comfortably placed at 203 for no loss in just 35 overs with N Jagadeesan (116 batting) cracking his fifth first-class hundred. Debutant Sai Sudarshan was batting on 87 when the stumps were drawn.
Earlier in the morning, Hyderabad’s Mikhil, who came in at No 7, showed what temperament and judicious shot selection can do to the confidence of a player. Mikil notched up his maiden century in Ranji Trophy in only his third appearance for the team. Mikil and Tanmay added 124 runs for the sixth wicket. Eventually, Tanmay fell to Sandeep Warrier who bagged a five-wicket haul.
However, all the good work done by the duo was nullified by the Tamil Nadu opening pair of Sai Sudarshan and Jagadeesan who were on a rampage and made mince meat of the hapless hosts’ attack. The pair carried their rich vein of white-ball form into the Ranji Trophy.
“Pretty happy with the way we responded to Hyderabad’s total. We knew the wicket was good and that we can respond soundly,” said a delighted Sai Sudarshan after the day’s play. “Jagadeesan was superb, it was a brilliant effort from him once again. It was a pleasure and delight to see him bat from close quarters. Thanks to his effort, we could post 200 runs on the board today,” added the youngster who made his debut for Tamil Nadu.
Coming back to his game, Sai Sudarshan played with a lot of maturity and did not show any sign of nervousness. He seems to have adapted well from white ball to red ball cricket. “There is nothing easy at this level. One needs to work hard. I would not say red-ball cricket is easy or difficult. It is a new experience for me, it is interesting and I am enjoying my time out in the middle,” said the 21-year-old.
Barring a mix-up while taking a sharp single, Jagadeesan and Sai Sudarshan had a fruitful tenure in the middle. The duo conversed quite often between overs and made the Hyderabad attack look very ordinary. “Jagadeesan was always helpful with his inputs and he encouraged me to give my best and be judicious in shot selection. The fact that we had many long partnerships in the Vijay Hazare tournament helped as we bonded well. We have an excellent understanding between us. This helps in rotation of strike and pacing the innings,’’ revealed Sai Sudarshan.
Select scores: Group A: At Cuttack: Odisha 457 in 154.2 ovs (Debabrata 89; Ninad 5/106) vs Baroda 77/0 in 25 ovs; Group B: At Vizianagram: Andhra 238 in 74.4 ovs vs Mumbai 290/6 in ovs (Armaan 116; Sasikanth 3/50); At Pune: Delhi 191 in 48.2 ovs vs Maharashtra 305/7 in 117 ovs (Kazi 119 batting, Palkar 94 batting); At Hyderabad: Hyderabad 395 all out in 115 ovs (Warrier 5/83, Vignesh 4/91) vs TN 203 in 35 ovs (Jagadeesan 116 batting, Sai Sudharsan 87 batting); Group C: At Porvorim: Goa 493/8 in 163.2 ovs (Suyash 212, Arjun 120) vs Rajasthan; At Ranchi: Kerala 475 in 146.4 ovs (Akshay 150; Nadeem 5/167) vs Jharkhand 87/3 in 33 ovs; At Bengaluru: Karnataka 304 in 74.4 ovs (Sharath 77; Diwesh 5/86) vs Services 96/4 in 28 ovs; At Puducherry: Chhattisgarh 162 & 184 in 42.1 ovs (Sagar 7/50) vs Puducherry 37 in 23.2 ovs (Ajay 7/7, Sumit 3/30) & 96/5 in 38 ovs.