CHENNAI: Centuries by B Indrajith (103) and Pradosh Ranjan Paul (107 batting) enabled Tamil Nadu to bag a lead of 43 runs over Mumbai on the third day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match being played at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday. Tamil Nadu were 380 for 4 in 105 overs in their second essay at stumps.
After B Aparajith was castled by Mohit Avasthi, opener Sai Sudarshan and B Indrajith did the rescue act. When Tamil Nadu came out to bat on Thursday the prospects looked very bleak but Indrajith led from the front to prove a point.
‘’Both Sai and Indrajaith gave a good start in the morning. Our strategy in the morning was to put up a good show and fight. Indrajith came up with a gem of an innings,’’ said Pradosh Ranjan Paul.
The fact that Tamil Nadu were able to stitch some partnerships on Thursday showed that they had better resolve this time around. ‘’We were determined to go out and express ourselves. We decided to forget what happened in the first innings and start afresh. This helped as all the batters played positively,’’ added Pradosh.
The lanky left-hander came up with a good effort once again in the second innings. ‘’I just played to the merit of the ball. The wicket was aiding the spinners. So I decided to avoid playing against the spin. Also, we consciously avoided playing any aerial shots.’’ revealed Pradosh.
Vijay Shankar too put his experience to effective use and was looking solid batting on 43. With six wickets in hand, it is to be seen how long Tamil Nadu bat on the final day and what target they set for Mumbai.
Select scores
Group A: At Cuttack: Nagaland 433 in 142.5 ovs vs Odisha 392/6 in 117 ovs (Shantanu 134 batting, Subhranshu 67; Akash 4/57). Group B: At Rajkot: Delhi 133 and 227 in 63.5 ovs (Shokeen 51; Dodiya 5/91) lost to Saurashtra 574/8 decl in 147.2 ovs; At Vizianagaram: Andhra 135 and 462 in 107.3 ovs (Bhui 116, Shinde 105 n.o.) vs Hyderabad 195 and 75/2 in 25 ovs (Rohit 46 batting); At Brabourne: Tamil Nadu 144 & 380/4 in 105 ovs (Sudharsan 68, Indrajith 103, Pradosh 107 n.o.) vs Mumbai 481 in 106.4 ovs. Group C: At Bengaluru: Chhattisgarh 311 & 35/2 in 20 ovs vs Karnataka 366 in 121.4 ovs (Agarwal 117, Jose 67; Mandal 4/93); At Thumba: Kerala 265 & 172/6 in 55 ovs (Prem 68 batting; Redkar 3/56, Desai 2/26) vs Goa 311 in 110.2 ovs (Gadekar 105; Saxena 5/103, Joseph 3/51); At Delhi: Puducherry 216 & 128/6 in 41 ovs (Pathania 2/38) vs Services 466/7decl in 129 ovs (Rahul 137, Paliwal 101, Bansal 83 n.o; Ankit 3/80). Group D: At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 309 & 257/5 decl in 68 ovs (Mantri 126, Shubham 55) vs Vidarbha 160 all out in 71 overs and 13/ 1 in 5 ovs.