Sharath completes double century

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI, MARCH 14. It was quite a memorable day for Mr. Consistent. Sridharan Sharath produced his third Ranji Trophy double hundred, completed 4,000 runs in the competition, and saw Tamil Nadu make the quarterfinals of this year's edition.

The home team went through the formalities at the IIT- Chemplast ground here on Wednesday, declaring 50 minutes after lunch at 515 for eight, setting Delhi an improbable target of 743 in 39 overs.

And after openers Akash Chopra (61, 80b, 11x4) and Gautam Gambhir (69 not out, 99b, 8x4) made attractive half centuries, the match was called off with seven mandatory overs remaining.

The morning clearly belonged to Sharath, a committed performer for the State over the years. The southpaw, finding the gaps with ease on either side of the wicket, progressed to a well-deserved double century without fuss, and during the course of the knock, became only the third Tamil Nadu batsman, after V. Sivaramakrishnan and Robin Singh to cross the 4,000-run landmark in the Ranji Trophy.

Sharath had reached his highest Ranji score (224, 352b, 28x4, 4x6), when he was castled by part-time leggie Gautam Gambhir. The big-built all-rounder, S. Mahesh, utilised the opportunity to compile a half-century (71, 113b, 11x4), using the pull stroke to good effect, and first innings hero Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, rewarded with a promotion in the batting order, rattled a 33-ball 42 (6x4, 2x6).

In the end, Delhi was left ruing the lack of application by its batsmen in the first innings, too many of them, playing too many strokes, on a pitch where the runs were never too many.

Tamil Nadu will take on Baroda away from home in its last eight duel.

* The scores:

Tamil Nadu - 1st innings: 592

Delhi - 1st innings: 365

Tamil Nadu - 2nd innings: S. Sriram (run out) 16; S. Badrinath (run out) 21; C. Hemant Kumar st Chawla b Sehwag 87; S. Sharath b Gambhir 224; J.R. Madanagopal c Chawla b Suman 3; S. Mahesh c Gambhir b Harender 71; Reuben Paul c A. Chopra b Gambhir 28; Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan c Minhas b Suman 42; M.R. Shrinivas (not out) 13; Extras (b-4, lb-2, w-3, nb-1) 10; Total (for eight wkts. decl. in 131.3 overs) 515.

Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-37, 3-244, 4- 262, 5-404, 6-444, 7-492, 8-515.

Delhi bowling: Robin (jr) 16-2-47-0; Suman 24-3-98-2; Bhandari 15-2-75-0; Sehwag 22-3-52-1; Sanghvi 23-2-86-0; Harender 20-1-104-1; Minhas 1-0-1-0; Gambhir 10.3-1-46-2.

Delhi - 2nd innings: A. Chopra b Sriram 61; G. Gambhir (not out) 69; M. Minhas (not out) 10; Extras (b-2, lb-2, nb-5) 9; Total (for one wkt. in 32 overs) 149.

Fall of wicket: 1-126.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Robin 6-0-28-0; Shrinivas 3-1-5-0; Aashish 9- 0-41-0; Vidyut 9-0-46-0; Sriram 3-0- 16-1; Hemant 1-0-5-0; Badrinath 1-0-4-0.

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