CHENNAI: Half-centuries by M Shahrukh Khan (86), N Jagadeesan (56) and C Andre Siddarth (78) came in handy for Tamil Nadu to bag a lead of 95 runs over Railways on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Thursday.
Tamil Nadu were 324 for 6 in 93 overs at stumps with Mohamed Ali batting on 37 and Ajith Ram giving him company on six runs.
Resuming from their overnight score of 19 for no loss, Shahrukh Khan and Jagadeesan got into the act straight away. After a cautious start in the morning where the duo played diligently keeping in mind the conditions, they excelled in strokeplay.
Shahrukh Khan and Jagadeesan, at times, complimented each other notching up boundaries off good deliveries. Pratham Singh, captain of Railways, shuffled in bowlers and tried every trick to break their partnership, but was not successful.
After a century stand worth 137 runs, Shahrukh was the first to depart falling to the guile of Shivam Chaudhary. Once again the aggressive batter got out while getting close to the three figure mark.
"It was a brilliant effort from Shahrukh and Jagadeesan. Both have played together for a long time at various levels and thus one can see their understanding in running between the wickets. Their partnership set us the platform and bag a reasonable lead so far," said Ajith Ram.
Vijay Shankar and Jagadeesan then fell in quick succession to give the opponents an opening. However, the left-right pair of Pradosh Ranjan Paul and C Andre Siddharth combined to put some runs for the fourth wicket. Both played positively, used their feet well against spinners and runs flowed from the meat of the blade.
Andre again with Mohammed Ali set the scoreboard ticking and but got castled by Kunal Yadav on 78. This was his fourth first-class half-century.
"Andre was a delight to watch once again. He relishes playing under pressure. He is a fine player of spin bowling and uses his feet well," complimented Ajith Ram. "We will score as much as possible on Friday and put pressure on Railways," he added.