Jagadeesan rues not scoring a ton

It was at that venue a year ago that he made an unbeaten 123 against Madhya Pradesh, which incidentally was his debut in first-class. In the five subsequent matches in a career that is still rooted in infancy, he struggled for an encore and it seemed that his run-making ability had hit a plateau.

But, on Thursday, there was not so much as a hint of struggle as he thrived in his new role as a one-drop batsman, in place of M Kaushik Gandhi, making a gutsy 88 (139b, 11x4, 1x6) to help Tamil Nadu claim day one honours against Odisha in the Group ‘C’ Ranji Trophy match.

What is more, he spent quality time in the middle with the seasoned India opener Murali Vijay, who made his 21st firstclass century. The duo was involved in an alliance of 145 runs for the second wicket that laid the platform for a day of dominance. The soft-spoken Jagadeesan acknowledged the significance of having Vijay as his partner in what is essentially a learning phase for him. “The experience of batting with Vijay was priceless. He kept motivating and encouraged me a lot to play my shots. Initially the ball was coming on to the bat, but once it lost its shine, we had to adopt a wait-and-watch approach. We are happy with how the day went for us and want to score big,” he said.

If there was one source of regret, it was his failure to convert his knock into a hundred. “It definitely hurts (not scoring a century). The ball that got me out was not a wicket-taking delivery either. I tried to go for a big shot, but I couldn’t connect it properly, and it landed in the ’keeper’s gloves. That took the gloss off my innings,” lamented Jagadeesan.