Date:03/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/03/stories/2008120361001600.htm

Sport

Tamil Nadu garners three points

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

IN FULL FLOW: S. Badrinath made use of the placid wicket to notch up a century.

VIJAYAWADA: The Super League Ranji Trophy group ‘B’ cricket match between Tamil Nadu and Andhra ended in a draw at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium with the visitor garnering three points for taking the first innings lead.

Resuming at 131 for one, both Abhinav Mukund (150, 264b, 12x4, 1x6) and Badrinath (121, 247b, 11x4, 2x6) made use of the placid wicket and toyed with a toothless Andhra attack.

Piling up runs

With the wicket not assisting off-spinner G.V.S. Prasad and leggie M. Suresh, both Abhinav and Badrinath dominated the first session by piling up 118 runs and in the process both completed chanceless centuries. Abhinav registered the fourth century of his career and his second of the season while Badrinath scored the 11th century of his career and the season’s second.

After an unrelenting toil, Andhra ended the 244-run second wicket stand by dismissing Badrinath who mistimed a cut off Kalyankrishna in the third over after lunch. Skipper Dinesh Karthik left early perishing in the slip cordon.

Abhinav’s lofted shot over midwicket enabled Tamil Nadu go past Andhra’s first innings score of 283; in the process the opener reached his 150. With Abhinav getting out to the very next ball Tamil Nadu declared at 286 for four.

Keen to go for a kill, the Tamil Nadu bowlers gave their team a dream start, reducing Andhra to 42 for three. However, M. Suresh and B. Sumanth prevented any further damage.

Tamil Nadu now has 15 points from its four outings with two more matches against Baroda and Railways, while Andhra is at the bottom of the table with three points with one match to go against Baroda.

The scores:

Andhra — 1st innings: 283.

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Abhinav Mukund b Vijayakumar 150, M. Vijay c Manoj Sai b Kalyankrishna 0, S. Badrinath c A.G. Pradeep b Kalyankrishna 121, D. Karthik c D. Prabhu Kiran b Kalyankrishna 4, S. Vidyut (not out) 1; Extras (b-1, lb-1, nb-6, w-2): 10; Total (for four wkts. decl. in 88.4 overs): 286.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-255, 3-272, 4-286.

Andhra bowling: Kalyankrishna 22-10-44-3, Vijaykumar 28.4-4-80-1, Gnaneswara Rao 3-1-14-0, Prasad 12-0-58-0, Suresh 16-1-61-0, Watekar 6-1-24-0, Pradeep 1-0-3-0.

Andhra — 2nd innings: D. Prabhu Kiran lbw b Ganapathy 20, L.N. Prasad Reddy c Vijay b C. Suresh 5, H.H. Watekar lbw b Amarnath 12, M. Suresh (not out) 37, B. Sumanth (not out) 18, Extras (lb-1, nb-2): 3: Total (for three wkts. in 39 overs): 95.

Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-25, 3-42.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Amarnath 7-0-32-1, Ganapathy 7-4-9-1, C. Suresh 8-5-8-1, Ashwin 9-5-14-0, S. Suresh Kumar 4-0-16-0, Vidyut 3-0-13-0, Vijay 1-0-2-0.