Date:18/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/18/stories/2008111856881800.htm

Sport - Cricket

Karthik, Badrinath score centuries

Sports Reporter

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

CENTURY MAKERS: Tamil Nadu’s Dinesh Karthik (left) and S. Badrinath during their big partnership against Uttar Pradesh.

GHAZIABAD: Dinesh Karthik and S. Badrinath dug into their reserves of patience to notch up centuries and put Tamil Nadu in a strong position in its Super League Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh at the Jawahar Lal Nehru cricket stadium here on Monday.

Karthik (159 batting, 320b, 19x4s) shook off his indifferent form while Badrinath (123, 252b, 13x4s, 1x6) strengthened his claim for a Test berth as the two put on 213 for the third wicket.

Resuming at 78 for two, the Tamil Nadu skipper and his deputy did not give the opposition many chances. Finishing the day at 356 for four, this offers Tamil Nadu the perfect opportunity to launch the offensive for an outright win.

Badrinath reached his century in the second session of the day before a lapse in concentration cost him his wicket. Going for the sweep against left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta, Badrinath missed the line and was stumped.

Badrinath’s 16th first class century, in the presence of selector Yashpal Sharma, would definitely keep him in the reckoning for the vacant slot in the national side, created by the retirement of Sourav Ganguly.

Karthik scored his fifth century which turned out to be his highest first class score.

For the fourth wicket, the wicketkeeper-batsman added 94 with S. Vidyuth, who gathered 44 runs before driving Sudeep Tyagi straight to Ravikant Shukla at covers.

Satisfied with his knock, Karthik said, “Now that we are in a strong position, we will look how it goes in the first hour and then take a decision. Ideally, to bat just once will be our goal.”

Badrinath was thrilled to get a hundred.

“I am not thinking about the selection (to the national side) for the England series, but I am hopeful. It (the knock) was important for me, especially the way I got the runs,” he said.

The scores: Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: 150.

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: A. Mukund c I. Ahmed b B. Kumar 0, A. Karthik c M. Amir Khan b B. Kumar 18, S. Badrinath st M. Amir Khan b P. Gupta 123, D. Karthik (batting) 159, S. Vidyuth c R. Shukla b S. Tyagi 44, S. Suresh (batting) 5; Extras: (wd-4, nb-2, lb-1) 7; Total: (for four wickets in 116 overs) 356.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-41, 3-254, 4-348.

Uttar Pradesh bowling: B. Kumar 26-5-69-2, S. Tyagi 24-8-60-1, I. Ahmed 20-2-71-0, Piyush Chawla 23-3-74-0, P. Gupta 23-0-81-1.