CHENNAI: Pradosh Ranjan Paul notched his second century on the trot for Tamil Nadu, as he and Baba Indrajith (94 batting) propelled Tamil Nadu to 252/4 in Day 1 of their Elite Group A match against Vidarbha in Coimbatore on Saturday. Their knocks came in handy as they rescued the hosts from a pitiable 18/2. Last week, Pradosh scored an unbeaten double hundred against Nagaland. Pradosh and Indrajith added 179 runs in 57.1 overs for the fourth wicket.
"It feels good to contribute for the team. Just played to the merit of the ball and did not try anything big," Pradosh told this daily after the day's play. From the outside, it looks like the vice captain is enjoying the role of playing at number three. He also seems to be taking more responsibility and is adapting to the situation.
Opting to bat against the defending champions, Tamil Nadu had a disastrous start, losing in form batter Vimal Khumar in the first over.Then, wicket-keeper batsman SR Athish, tried to defend a ball down the leg side, but the ball hit the glove and found Satyam Bhoyar at short leg. Andre Siddarth joined Pradosh and the duo raised 55 runs for the third wicket.Pradosh stressed on the importance of this partnership.
"Had anyone of us got out at that time (18/2) things could have gone haywire for us. After that I had a good partnership with Indrajith who played superbly and scored effortlessly," Pradosh explained. Pradosh's innings came to an end at 113, when a nip-backer from Nachiket Bhute wrapped him on the pads, with the umpire giving a leg-before wicket.
Tamil Nadu head coach M Senthilnathan was pleased with the effort of his batters to recover from a poor start. "It was a good recovery. They (Pradosh, Indrajith) came back and played really well. We had a small stand with Pradosh and Andre and later Pradosh and Indrajith put up a splendid show. This is what we as coaches want from the top order. Good to see them apply and put some runs on the board," Senthilnathan explained.
It was Senthilnathan who promoted Pradosh to the No 3 spot this season. "It is always good to have a left-hander at the top of the order. Pradosh with his compact game could adapt from the lower order to the top order. After the first Ranji game where Pradosh failed many had doubts whether he can score runs with the same ease as he does at the lower order. But I had faith in his abilities and he has now scored back to back hundreds at No 3," he explained. The coach is hopeful of a similar performance from his batters on Sunday. "Indrajith was in fine touch, he was playing fluently. So I expect him to continue and post a big hundred. Shahrukh Khan too can use the opportunity to score big as the wicket is good for batting at the moment," he signed off.
