CHENNAI: After B Sai Sudharsan's double century (213), Washington Sundar (152) and Pradosh Ranjan Paul (117) notched up a century each against a hapless Delhi attack to help Tamil Nadu post a mammoth score of 674/6 (declared) in 158.2 overs on Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
In reply, Delhi were 43 for no loss in 16 overs at stumps with Sanat Sangwan batting on 23 and Harsh Tyagi batting on 15.
Sai Sudharsan was the first to go on Saturday morning after adding just 11 runs to his overnight score of 202 with Navdeep Saini bagging his second wicket.
Baba Indrajith also didn't last long as he was castled by Himanshu Chauhan.
That was when Washington and Pradosh came to the fore. The Delhi attack just couldn't contain the left-handed duo. Pradosh was naturally stoked after his contribution with the bat. "I'm pleased to get a hundred. I could contribute a bit to help the team pose an imposing total," said Pradosh after the day's play.
Washington's game had grace written all over it as he eventually got his second first-class hundred after a long wait of seven years. His first first-class hundred came in 2017 at Chennai against Tripura.
Injuries and national duty had kept Washington away from red-ball cricket for his state for a while. After his exploits in Australia a few years back, the then coach of the India team Ravi Shastri had wanted Washington to play for Tamil Nadu at the top order on a regular basis. Having gotten the opportunity to bat at No 3 for Tamil Nadu, Washington made best use of the outing to show his class and prove his mettle. Pradosh was also pleased for Washington.
"Washy (Washington) was absolutely brilliant. It was a pleasure batting with him in the middle. We had a good understanding and played to the situation and thus, could forge a good stand," he said.
For Pradosh, it was his sixth first-class century. Incidentally, Pradosh had made his debut against Delhi in 2019.
"I did not try anything big, kept it simple and wanted to spend time in the middle. Since the wicket was good, I knew that if I concentrated and played to the merit of the ball, runs would come," Pradosh reflected.
Towards the end of the TN innings, Pradosh also had a fruitful partnership with 18-year-old C Andre Siddarth, who remained not out on 66. Aware of the Goliath task ahead of them, Delhi openers Sanat and Harsh began cautiously. First, they carefully negotiated the visitors' medium pacers and later, played the spinners deftly ensuring that they ended the day without losing a wicket.
"The wicket was looking good towards the end of the day's play although the bounce was a bit low. We'll go all out against them on Sunday. We are confident of a good show by our bowlers," signed off Pradosh.