A 121-run unbroken fifth wicket partnership between K Vasudevadas and R Prasanna helped by some shoddy fielding by Bengal saw Tamil Nadu end first day's play at 261 for five in an Elite Group B match of the Ranji Trophy at the Eren Gardens.
Published: Dec 06, 2011, 07:50 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 06, 2011, 07:50 PM (IST)
Abhinav Mukund hit yet another half-century © AFP
Kolkata: Dec 6, 2011
A 121-run unbroken fifth wicket partnership between K Vasudevadas and R Prasanna helped by some shoddy fielding by Bengal saw Tamil Nadu end first day’s play at 261 for five in an Elite Group B match of the Ranji Trophy at the Eren Gardens.
After being reduced to 140/5, the duo of Vasudevadas (69, 140 balls; 10×4, 1×6) and Prasanna (53, 159 balls, 9×4) held the fort to end the day with 261/5 in 84 overs when umpires called time. Vasudevadas was let off twice while Prasanna got the reprieve on one occasion, thanks to poor catching by Bengal fielders.
Among the top-order batsmen, only Abhinav Mukund (83, 115 balls, 13×4) looked fluent before he was the fifth man to get out.
Opting to bowl on a greentop Eden strip, Bengal made perfect use of the conditions to reduce Tamil Nadu to 102/4 at lunch, even as Mukund stood tall in a defiant half-century.
As has been the case this season, Bengal bowlers failed to deliver the final punch due to wayward bowling and lacklustre effort on the field.
While on 13, Vasudevadas was dropped at second slip by Writam Porel with the team’s score on 151 for 5.
Bengal had another fine chance when Tamil Nadu were on 176/5 but this time left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena dropped Prasanna on 15 of his own bowling.
Bengal seamers Ashok Dinda (2/58), Ranadeb Bose (1/45) and Mohammad Shami Ahmed (1/52) couldn’t keep the momentum going in the last two sessions.
Skipper Sourav Ganguly, who is leading the side in absence of Manoj Tiwary, kept rotating his bowlers and opted for the new ball in time but the duo of Vasudevadas and Prasanna made full of use of seamers’ profligacy.
Earlier in the morning, Bengal overcame a scare when their short leg fielder Rohan Banerjee had to be rushed to the hospital after being hit by a Mukund flick shot.
The incident happened in the seventh over when Mohammad Sami was bowling. The flick from Mukund hit the forward short-leg fielder on his lower abdominal region.
Banerjee didn’t come to the field during the day, and it’s still not clear whether he would come out to bat tomorrow.
Earlier, both the teams made one change to their line-up as Bengal brought in Shreevats Goswami in place of Saha, while S Badrinath after recovering from a groin injury replaced KB Arun Karthik. (PTI)
