CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu opener B Sai Sudharsan's magnificent maiden first-class double century (202 batting) put his team in command against Delhi on the first day of the Ranji Trophy played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday.
His effort and half-centuries by N Jagadeesan (65), Washington Sundar (96 batting) helped the visitors to post 379 for 1 in 88 overs.
"Pleased and happy to get the double ton. I am all the more glad that it served the team's cause," said an elated Sai Sudharsan to this daily after the day's play. This was his sixth first-class ton.
Put in to bat, the Tamil Nadu openers Sai Sudharsan and N Jagadeesan played cautiously. On a pitch that had assistance for the pacers, the duo rose to the challenge and played to the merit of the ball. In fact, in the first 15 overs, they added only 47 runs and with each one of them scoring a boundary each. The duo slowly rotated the strike when an opportunity arose while not forgetting to get the odd boundary.
"They (Navdeep Saini and co) bowled really well in the morning. I felt there was a lot happening on the wicket. So we played it tight for the first hour or so and carried on till lunch in the same manner. So understanding the wicket and conditions helped us to get a bigger score," revealed Sudharsan.
Together, the openers raised 168 for the first wicket in 39.1 overs. Jagadeesan, who got a hundred against Saurashtra in the previous game, was castled by Saini. After that Sudharsan, along with Washington Sundar, admirably stitched together a 211-run stand for the unfinished second wicket. Washington, who had missed an opportunity to play for Tamil Nadu many times in red-ball due to injury or national duty, made the best use of the opportunity as he was just four runs short of scoring his second first-class hundred.
"Both Jagadeesan and Washy's stands were crucial for us. It helped us to go about our plans. For me personally both of them's presence at the other end gave me confidence and a sense of stability," insisted Sudharsan.
The way Sudharsan paced innings it looked like he wanted to remain unbeaten at the end of the day's play. But he explained that all he wanted to do was adapt to the situation.
"There was no such plan to remain unbeaten at the end of the day. All I wanted to do was to just adapt to the situation and play as long as possible. Luckily things worked. The first hundred I got today I cherish it a lot more because it was tough keeping in mind the wicket and conditions. One needed to concentrate hard, after that second one (hundred) I enjoyed a lot more and it was fun to play along with Washy,' he said.
In the last few months, Sudharsan has been in good form getting a hundred in County (Surrey) cricket, later the Duleep Trophy and now a Ranji hundred. Asked which one of these he cherishes more, he said, "All are important centuries as each one of them posed different kind of challenges to me. So it is difficult to pick one as the best."