CHENNAI: For several years Tamil Nadu batsman B Indrajith had to play under the shadow of his elder twin B Aparajith who had made the successful transition from India Under-19 player to the first-class cricketer. During that period, former India player and chief coach of the Indian women’s team WV Raman in an informal chat with Express had pointed out that B Indrajith was one of the most technically sound batsman in the state and this trait would come in handy for the youngster in the future.
True to Raman’s words, Indrajith, once again, proved that there no substitute for technique and came out with a brilliant century (100) on a ‘sticky dog’ to bail out Tamil Nadu from a precarious situation against Jharkhand on Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy match at Guwahati on Thursday. Tamil Nadu were 256 for 7 in 72 overs at stumps, Sai Kishore, who made a gritty 81, too, lent able support to Indrajith and the duo raised 171 runs in 259 balls for the fifth wicket. The crucial match in the Elite ‘H’ group began 90 minutes late due to wet pitch. When the play actually began, Tamil Nadu won the toss and decided to bat.
They had a disastrous start, losing both the openers Kaushik Gandhi and L Suryaprakash cheaply. Then the in-form B Aparajith, too, perished as he was castled by Rahul Shukla. Tamil Nadu were thus reduced to 21 for 3 and in dire straits. Now, a lot depended upon skipper Vijay Shankar to do the rescue act and lead by example.
But he once again failed, and Tamil Nadu were reduced to 32 for 4 in 10.3 overs. “The surface was a bit sticky and that’s why the game started late. The ball initially under those circumstances does a bit and maybe that’s why we had a top-order collapse. We have a good batting line-up with lot of experience and that’s why we opted to bat first,’’ said M Venkataramana, chief coach of Tamil Nadu.
Indrajith and Sai Kishore, who was more of the lead spinner, played in tandem and kept the scoreboard ticking. Indrajith in the last couple of years has been in good form and have been delivering crucial knocks for his team. This innings on a difficult surface would have certainly come to the notice of the national selectors.
Select scores
Group A: Madhya Pradesh 218/2 in 90.0 ovs (Dubey 105 n.o) vs Kerala; Group B: Hyderabad 197 in 55.1 ovs (Jaweed 65, Thyagarajan 51; Sheth 5/53) vs Baroda 92/2 in 27 ovs; Group C: Karnataka 293/3 in 90.0 ovs (Padikkal 161 n.o) vs Pondicherry; Group D: Odisha 250/6 in 90.0 ovs (Mishra 89; Avasthi 2/48) vs Mumbai ; Group E: Uttarakhand 194 in 69.1 ovs (Chandela 52; Bandaru 4/37) vs Andhra 42/1 in 12 ovs; Group G: Maharashtra 298/4 in 90.0 ovs (Bawane 114 n.o) vs Uttar Pradesh; Group H: Tamil Nadu 256/7 in 72.0 ovs (Indrajith 100, Sai Kishore 81) vs Jharkhand ; Chhattisgarh 290/4 in 90.0 ovs (Amandeep 68) vs Delhi