Cuttack: Orissa’s nightmarish Ranji season continued as Tamil Nadu batsmen, led by opener Murali Vijay (140, 273b, 15×4, 1×6), scored 292 for the loss of three wickets at stumps against a sluggish bowling attack in their Group C Ranji Trophy encounter at the DRIEMS Ground in Tangi, Thursday.
India opener Vijay, who has taken special permission from the BCCI to play this game to have some time in the middle, started slowly, but as the day progressed opened up to play some beautiful shots all around the park to register his 21st first class ton.
Opting to bat first Tamil Nadu had a bad start when skipper Abhinav Mukund (12) was run out by a direct throw from Dhiraj Singh. However, Vijay and wicketkeeper-batsman Narayan Jagadeesan (88, 139b, 11×4, 1×6) played sensibly and forged together a partnership of 145 runs for the second wicket. Jagadeesan, in fact was more enterprising than his illustrious partner, hitting the Orissa bowlers all across the park. He fell to skipper Govind Poddar (1/71), who had him caught behind by Rajesh Dhuper.
After the fall of Jagadeesan, the in-form Baba Indrajith (41batting, 81b, 6×4) joined Vijay and they put on 118 runs for the third wicket. It was during this period, that Vijay went into an overdrive. From 80 to 100, he hit three boundaries and a six in the space of two overs. However, a lapse of concentration led to his downfall when he hit a slower one from Suryakant Pradhan (1/48) back to the bowler.
Unless, the Orissa bowlers strike early and at regular intervals, Friday, their batsmen will have their task cut out. As things stand, Tamil Nadu are all set to put up a 500-plus total to bat Orissa out of the game completely.
Orissa made two changes to their squad. Wicketkeeper-batsman Rajesh Dhuper replaced Saurabh Rawat and all-rounder Alok Chandra Sahoo came in place of Deepak Behera.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 292/3 (Murali Vijay 140, Narayan Jagadeesan 88, Baba Indrajith 41 batting; Suryakant Pradhan 1/48) vs Orissa. Match to continue.
Other Group C matches
(At Agartala): Andhra 252/2 (Prasanth Kumar 120 batting, Hanuma Vihari 62, Rickey Bhui 49 batting) vs Tripura.
(At Mumbai): Mumbai 171 (Aditya Tare 50; Ajit Sheth 5/50, Lukman Mriwala 5/52); Baroda 63/1 (Vishnu Solanki 32 batting). All the matches to continue Friday.
Verbal duel
Indian Test opener Murali Vijay had a verbal fight with one of the on field on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C tie against Tamil Nadu at the DRIEMS Ground in Cuttack, Thursday. Vijay was apparently unhappy with a decision from the umpire and was even seen arguing with him.
Milestone for Vijay
Murali Vijay became the sixth player to reach 8,000 runs in the Ranji Trophy. Vijay reached the milestone soon after the lunch with his personal score on 36. He had 7,964 runs before the start of the match. He now has 8,104 runs in his kitty and is fifth in the list of most runs in Ranji Trophy after Mithun Manhas (8,554), Devendra Bundela (9,002), Amol Muzumdar (9,202) and Wasim Jaffer (10,292). In the process, Vijay went past Tamil Nadu’s current coach, former India, Maharashtra and Rajasthan player, Hrishikesh Kanitkar (8,059).
Eyeing 500-plus total
Tamil Nadu skipper Abhinab Mukund said Thursday that they are targeting a score of over 500 in the first innings. “The first day was good. We will play watchfully in the morning session tomorrow (Friday). If we keep wickets, we can score more than 500 runs,” Mukund said after the end of the first day’s play.
Toss crucial: Das
Orissa coach Shiv Sundar Das said that the toss was crucial as the hosts also wanted to bat first. “We wanted to bat first but we lost the toss. The pitch has nothing much for the bowlers,” stated the former India opener. “However, we have already got Vijay. So if we can get few more wickets in the first hour of play (Friday), it will definitely help us,” Das added.
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