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Nayar hands advantage to Mumbai
| His 85-ball 105 gives the visitor first innings lead |
BLAZING AWAY: Mumbai’s Abhishek Nayar who scored a century, sent the Tamil Nadu bowlers on a leather hunt on Friday.
CHENNAI: Abhishek Nayar blitzed an 85-ball 105, containing 13 fours and two sixes, to hand Mumbai the advantage on the second day of the second-round Ranji Trophy Super league cricket match against Tamil Nadu here at the ICL-Guru Nanak ground on Friday.
Nayar’s maiden Ranji century, his third in four First Class matches, helped Mumbai score 317 and gain a first-innings lead of 111.
Ramesh Powar then had opener M. Vijay adjudged caught behind for two to further strengthen the defending champion’s position.
Tamil Nadu reached 30 for one — Dinesh Karthik contributing a bristling 28 — as Friday’s play ended.
With 21 wickets falling in two days, the match appears set for a decisive result.
Brutal stroke-playThe left-handed Nayar’s innings featured brutal stroke-play emanating from a peculiar wide-based stance.
Remarkably, the knock was both entertaining and contextually significant.
With Mumbai on 155 for five when Ajit Agarkar joined Nayar, the match was in the balance.
Tamil Nadu was in with a shot of shaving Mumbai’s lead — perhaps even opening a lead of its own. But, Nayar’s menacing intent never let up; he also had his moments of fortune.
All bowlers came alike to the strongly built 24-year-old: Amarnath was flipped to square-leg and hoisted over cover; Ramkumar was cut, swept and bludgeoned straight; Naresh was pulled with blinding bat-speed; Ashwin was deposited in the shamiana tent behind the rope at wide long-on, scattering the pressmen.
Nayar, in Agarkar’s presence, took Mumbai to 227 for five before Amarnath and Ramkumar struck in quick succession.
But, Nayar found another ally in Vinayak Samant, the busy wicketkeeper-batsman.
The pair had added 74 in 87 balls, powering Mumbai past 300, when Ashwin had Nayar caught off a miscue.
Wasim Jaffer and Amol Muzumdar had earlier put on 61 for the third wicket — a partnership of languid ball striking from Jaffer and quicksilver footwork from Muzumdar.
Jaffer made Tamil Nadu pay for dropping him in the first over of the day (Badrinath at second slip, the guilty party; Yomahesh, the unlucky bowler) when he was on three. He was eventually dismissed 47 runs later, caught at mid-on off Ramkumar.
The tall left-arm spinner also had Muzumdar, stretching forward without offering a shot, leg-before for 43. Ramkumar added the scalps of Powar and Iqbal Abdulla to finish with four for 88 off 23 overs.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 206.
Mumbai (1st innings): S. Kukreja c Karthik b Amarnath 30, W. Jaffer c Amarnath b Ramkumar 50, A. Rahane c Karthik b Naresh 4, A. Muzumdar lbw b Ramkumar 43, P. Naik (run out) 8, A. Nayar c Vasudeva Das b Ashwin 105, A. Agarkar b Amarnath 22, R. Powar c Vijay b Ramkumar 0, V. Samant (not out) 39, I. Abdulla c Amarnath b Ramkumar 8, A. Salvi c Prasanna b Ashwin 0, Extras (b-3, lb-3, nb-1, w-1): 8; Total (in 90 overs): 317.
Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-66, 3-127, 4-138, 5-155, 6-227, 7-228, 8-302, 9-316.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Yomahesh 17-6-52-0, Amarnath 21-5-66-2, Naresh 12-4-31-1, Ashwin 15-0-58-2, Ramkumar 23-3-88-4, Badrinath 2-0-16-0.
Tamil Nadu (2nd innings): D. Karthik (batting) 28, M. Vijay c Samant b Powar 2, V. Yomahesh (batting) 0; Total (one wkt., eight overs) 30.
Fall of wicket: 1-16.
Mumbai bowling: Agarkar 4-0-18-0, Salvi 2-1-2-0, Powar 2-0-10-1.
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