Date:02/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/02/stories/2008120260641800.htm

Sport - Cricket

Tamil Nadu makes a strong reply

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

STEPPING OUT: Abhinav Mukund made good use of his feet against the spinners.

VIJAYAWADA: Opener Abhinav Mukund (72 batting, 155b, 7x4, 1x6) and S. Badrinath (54 batting, 124b, 5x4, 1x6) hogged the limelight by forging an unbroken 120-run second-wicket partnership for Tamil Nadu in the first innings against Andhra.

On the penultimate day of the Super League Ranji Trophy cricket match at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium here on Monday, Tamil Nadu was 131 for one at stumps, in reply to Andhra’s 283.

Early jolt

Tamil Nadu’s mission to pick up three crucial points from the match received a jolt as M. Vijay made an early exit for a duck after facing only eight balls.

He played a tentative stroke to an outgoing delivery off medium-pacer D. Kalyankrishna and was caught behind.

Badrinath, who walked in at 11 for one, took some time to settle down but southpaw Abhinav showed fine temperament and treated both the medium-pacers and spinners with utter disdain.

Abhinav used his feet effectively, especially against the spinners, and his cut shots were a treat to the eyes.

Once Badrinath also found his rhythm, the going got tough for the Andhra bowlers.

Tamil Nadu could have added a few more runs to its total but for the brilliant fielding by R. Sumanth who exhibited fine reflexes to stop a few scorching shots both at point and cover.

Earlier, Andhra, resuming at 191 for three, was all out for 283 after lunch as the last four wickets fell for the addition of just eight runs.

In the post-lunch session Tamil Nadu medium-pacer L. Balaji struck twice in successive overs to trap Sumanth (90, 281b, 5x4) and A.G. Pradeep in front.

Skipper Gnaneswara Rao (58, 147b, 8x4), who was shaping well, played an uppish straight drive only to see Amarnath bending forward to latch on to the catch off his own bowling.

The scores:

Andhra —1st innings: H.H. Watekar c Ashwin b C. Suresh 39, L.N. Prasad Reddy c Badrinath b Ganapathy 9, D. Prabhu Kiran c Karthik b Amarnath 11, R. Sumanth lbw b Balaji 90, Gnaneswara Rao c & b Amarnath 58, A.G. Pradeep lbw b Balaji 15, M. Suresh c (sub) b Ashwin 2, Manoj Sai c Abhinav b Amarnath 23, Kalyankrishna b Ashwin 4, K. Vijayakumar c Amarnath b Ashwin 1, G.V. Prasad (not out) 1; Extras (b-6, lb-9, nb-15): 30; Total (in 127.3 overs): 283.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-38, 3-114, 4-229, 5-244, 6-251, 7-275, 8-280, 9-281.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Balaji 25-8-46-2, Amarnath 29-7-67-3, Ganapathy 24-6-54-1, C. Suresh 17-4-32-1, Ashwin 26.3- 8-57-3, S. Suresh Kumar 5-0-11-0, Vidyut 1-0-1-0.

Tamil Nadu —1st innings: Abhinav Mukund (batting) 72, M. Vijay c Manoj Sai b Kalyankrishna 0, S. Badrinath (batting) 54; Extras (nb-5): 5: Total (for one wkt. in 47 overs): 131.

Fall of wicket: 1-11.

Andhra bowling: Kalyankrishna 10-6-18-1, Vijayakumar 15-3-29-0, Gnaneswara Rao 3-1-14-0, G.V. Prasad 7-0-34-0, Suresh 8-0-23-0, Watekar 4-1-13-0.