Tamil Nadu eyes big lead

In response to Tripura’s 258, Tamil Nadu was 332 for two, with a lead of 74. TN captain Abhinav Mukund 76 (130b, 10x4) scored a second successive half-century before falling to off-spinner Joydeep Bhattacharjee, caught at backward point. Abhinav was livid at himself for failing to convert it into a big hundred especially with the bowling being listless and the wicket playing true. He added 162 runs for the opening wicket with MS Washington Sundar and their quick running was a feature of the partnership. But the day belonged to teenager Washington who scored his first Ranji hundred and is going great guns at an unbeaten 156. 

In the company of B Indrajith 73 batting (121b, 6x4), Washington has raised an unbroken 142 runs for the third wicket. One shot that stood out in Washington’s knock was his effortless six over covers off Joydeep to move into nineties. Washington has been the flavour of the cricketing scene and the toast of his teammates for some time now, and whenever he steps on to the field, lofty deeds are expected of him. 

Anything that strayed on his legs was majestically whipped off his pads to the fine leg boundary. He was impervious to the different field settings, and went about his run-gathering business with a degree of serenity. With rain being forecast for the last two days, TN scored runs at a fast clip with both openers not troubled in the least by the pedestrian bowling. The Tripura fast bowlers, led by captain Manisankar Murasingh, were wayward, erring in line and bowling too wide off the stumps. 

The TN batsmen were content leaving those deliveries and didn’t let the negative tactics impinge on their patience. After going to lunch at 82 for no loss, the host enjoyed its most productive phase with the bat in the second session, adding a further 130 runs in 28 overs. The third session for TN was all about driving home the advantage as it piled on 120 runs and extended its lead. Tripura went through the motions, looking clueless and spread the field to try and stop the boundaries.

Scoreboard 

Tripura (1st innings) B Ghosh c Karthik b K Vignesh 0, U Bose lbw b L Vignesh 2, R Banik b Rahil 17, S Patel B J Kousik c MS Washington Sundar 99, Y Singh c Karthik b Ashwin 96, A Dey lbw b MS Washington Sundar 0, G Singh c Indrajith b K Vignesh 13, M Murasingh c Rahil b Ashwin 18, R Dutta c MS Washington Sundar b K Vignesh 4, A Sarkar c Indrajith b K Vignesh 0, J Bhattacharjee not out 0, Extras 9. Total (all out in 96.1overs) 258 FoW: 1-0, 2-18, 3-41, 4-203, 5-208, 6-232, 7-244, 8-258, 9-258 and 10-258 Bowling: K Vignesh 23-6-41-4, L Vignesh 10-1-38-1, R Ashwin 25.1-6-64-2, R Shah 12-2-40-1, R Sai Kishore 14-5-29-0, MS Washington Sundar 12-2-40-2 

Tamil Nadu (1st innings) MS Washington Sundar batting 156, A Mukund c G Singh b Bhattacharjee 76, K Gandhi lbw b GSingh 9, B Indrajith batting 73, Extras 18. Total (for 2 wickets in 81 overs) 332 FoW: 1-152, 2-180 Bowling: M Murasingh 14-3-59-0, R Dutta 10-0-50-0, J Bhattacharjee 21-0-86-1, A Sarkar 6-0-27-0, A Dey 10-2-36-0, G Singh 17-1-61-1, Y Singh 3-1-7-0