Ranji Trophy, Super League, 2008-09

[Mr. Wicket]

Tiwary gets a ton against one of the weakest domestic attacks I've seen in a while (heck Saurashtra's bowlers have looked more threatening) and on a pretty insipid pitch. Good job Neo, picking the most boring game in the quarterfinals to broadcast with the two most painful military medium attacks and a whole bunch of FTBs.

[Chandan]

Oh dear!! How on earth could any batsman get out on that delivery?? Chakravarty was handling the spinners quite well before throwing his wicket away on a long hop! And Karnataka is in a precarious position, having lost 7 wickets for just 216, if cricinfo is right. Dravid could make only 26 runs while Uthappa is there unbeaten after a ton.

[Mr. Wicket]

Balaji's looking really average here, clocking in the 124-126 kmh range regularly, and spraying far too many down the leg side with very little movement (despite the 2nd new ball having been taken not long ago). Whatever happened to the man who rolled through the Pakis back in 04?

[msb1991]

Oh dear!! How on earth could any batsman get out on that delivery?? Chakravarty was handling the spinners quite well before throwing his wicket away on a long hop! And Karnataka is in a precarious position, having lost 7 wickets for just 216, if cricinfo is right. Dravid could make only 26 runs while Uthappa is there unbeaten after a ton.

Ravindra Jadeja truly is showing himself as quite a talent having snared four victims on a Day One pitch.

[msb1991]

Balaji's looking really average here, clocking in the 124-126 kmh range regularly, and spraying far too many down the leg side with very little movement (despite the 2nd new ball having been taken not long ago). Whatever happened to the man who rolled through the Pakis back in 04?

He got injured twice.

[Rajan]

Ravindra Jadeja truly is showing himself as quite a talent having snared four victims on a Day One pitch.

...besides scoring 600 runs in the season so far! would be a good prospect. superb fielder too.

[msb1991]

It is an extreme shame that in the Quarter Finals of the Ranji Trophy Super League, the premier domestic competition, the opening bowlers are bowling at 125kph and 120kph respectively - this sort of pace totally eliminates one from international consideration and is cutting our potential talent pool for fast bowling down significantly and needs to be tackled with fitness programmes, biomechanics, whatever, it is unacceptable that our domestic bowlers are so much slower than others all over the Test playing world.

[msb1991]

...besides scoring 600 runs in the season so far! would be a good prospect. superb fielder too.

Indeed, scored a lot of runs, taken quite a few wickets. I sincerely hope he can take one art to the level of international consideration rather than being a jack of all trades, master of none.

[Chandan]

Two run-outs in UP- Gujarat match?? Opener Shukla and Kaif were run-out cheaply. Even if Raina scored 93, the situation is critical for UP! 170/5 is not a good score. The lower order need to bail UP out. PS: Now they are 242/6 Bangal ends the day at 292/5 in 90 overs. It is a strong position to be in, still I think they've lost one wicket too many.

[msb1991]

Why is RP Singh not playing, injured or dropped?

[Chandan]

Nayar bagged 6 wickets and Mumbai started batting today after dismissing HP for only 243 runs!! The final scores at the end of day 1: Mum vs HP : HP 243 A/O, Mumbai 19/0 Saur vs Kar: Karnataka 265/8 TN vs Beng : Bengal 292/5 Guj vs UP : UP 242/6

[Chandan]

Time for BCCI to act on Parmar G. Viswanath MUMBAI: Fast-medium and swing bowlers have, to a large measure, bagged wickets aplenty in the just-concluded Ranji Trophy Super League. It has been a very honest sweat by some of the seasoned practitioners and newcomers and their efforts deserve praise given the kind of surface on which they have toiled for over a period of two months. Also the poor quality of SG brand ball that has come for flak for losing shape, in many cases, well within the first ten overs. The topper in the bowlers’ list however is Gujarat off-break bowler Mohnish Parmar. He has been a match-winner with 34 wickets at a meagre 18.05. He has taken 82 wickets at 16.70 in first class matches, and since the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has allowed him to play in its premier National championship, he ought to have been awarded a lower-end central contract (Rs. 15 lakh). Under scrutiny Parmar has been under scrutiny by the players and the match officials, and at the instance of Dav Whatmore, who runs the National Cricket Academy (NCA) show at Bangalore, was examined at the Australian Institute of Sports in the first week of December. The BCCI’s technical committee, the umpires’ committee and the selection committee have to step in to give a clear direction to his career. Either he should be given the confidence to compete and continue like a normal cricketer or told that his action is suspect and bar him from taking part in the major competitions. Second in the list is Parmar’s colleague in the Gujarat team, a smart seamer Siddharth Trivedi. He is regarded highly by Shane Warne. He has taken 193 wickets at a little under 23 in first class cricket, and has proved to be the linchpin for Gujarat. If performance was the main criterion Parmar and Trivedi would have been automatic choices in the contracts list. Instead lower-end contracts have been awarded to seamer Sudip Tyagi, R. Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, Chetanya Nanda, Shikar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, none of whom have played for India in Tests or ODIs. No aspersions No one casts aspersions because the above named cricketers seem to have potential to progress, but by the same token, players like Parmar, Trivedi, Ajinkya Rahane (batsman), Dhawal Kulkarni (seamer), Ravindra Jadeja (all-rounder), Parvinder Awana (seamer, Delhi), Samad Fallah (seamer, Maharashtra), and Pradeep Sangwan (seamer, Delhi) ought to have been considered. Aakash Chopra (batsman, Delhi), Murali Kartik (left-arm spinner, Railways) and Pankaj Singh (the right-arm seamer was in the Indian Test squad for the last tour of Australia) have got the worst deal. The secretary and chairman of selectors had the benefit of six Ranji Trophy matches being completed to identify the top performers of this season. Pragyan Ojha is the only left-arm spinner who has been awarded, surprisingly Grade C (Rs. 25 lakh). While there are names like Irfan Pathan (26 wickets in four matches at 16.03) and Laxmipathy Balaji (23 wickets in 5 matches at 18.82) as along with Trivedi (33 wickets in seven matches at 16.84) who have done justice to their talent, there are a few names like right-arm seamer Dhawal Kulkarni (32 wickets in six matches at 14.50), left-arm seamer Fallah (33 wickets in six matches at 24.45) and right-arm seamer Awana (27 wickets in six matches at 21.51) who have impressed with their ability to lead the pace attack.

[msb1991]

Slightly aimless article that looks like it is a paragraph or so short, but makes a good point that this Grade D contract is a joke as it seemingly randomly picks a handful of the best domestic cricketers in India. As I keep saying, greater prevalence of the Duleep Trophy as the premier competition over the Ranji Trophy, funded heavily by the BCCI, would be the best solution. A lot of great performers, no method to differentiate, no method to see who will convert best to international level.

[Show_stopper]

Two run-outs in UP- Gujarat match?? Opener Shukla and Kaif were run-out cheaply. Even if Raina scored 93, the situation is critical for UP! 170/5 is not a good score. The lower order need to bail UP out. PS: Now they are 242/6 .

:yay: thats my boy!!

[Show_stopper]

It is an extreme shame that in the Quarter Finals of the Ranji Trophy Super League' date=' the premier domestic competition, the opening bowlers are bowling at 125kph and 120kph respectively - this sort of pace totally eliminates one from international consideration and is cutting our potential talent pool for fast bowling down significantly and needs to be tackled with fitness programmes, biomechanics, whatever, it is unacceptable that our domestic bowlers are so much slower than others all over the Test playing world.[/quote'] Agreed..it was so disheartening to see.I don't care how old or young you're bowlers with these kind of pace shouldn't even be in the reckoning for national call up.Then you might wonder whats the point of these FC games?? Strange to say the least.. Btw Manee..did you notice that the 100 mph guy,Atul Sharma,the bit about him has been completely removed from Ian Pont's site:http://www.maverickscricket.com/coaching.htm. Wonder wtf happened?

[msb1991]

Injured, drugs, convicted of chucking, or hoping to completely wipe media reports in hope of a massive shock when he arrives? Your guess is as good as mine.

[cowboysfan]

i am interested to see how pujara performs against karnataka.

[Guest Hiten.]

Let alone the 'pace' bowlers, we do not have a quality spinner in the Quarter final match up :nervous: Batsmen that can be 'tested' in international arena are coming up in bundles. What a predicament! Anywho, advantage Mumbai, Bengal.

[Chandan]

THE QUARTER-FINALS Mumbai v Himachal Pradesh in Ahmedabad, Day 1 Mumbai 19 for 0 trail Himachal Pradesh 250 (Sarandeep Singh 75, Mannu 61, Nayar 6-45) by 231 runs Scorecard Nayar's six-wicket haul gives Mumbai advantage Abhishek Nayar starred with a six-wicket haul to bowl out Himachal Pradesh (HP) for a below-par 250 after the opening day's play in Ahmedabad. HP were strangled by Nayar's triple-strike late in the first session before a rearguard from Ajay Mannu and Sarandeep Singh extricated them from a precarious 74 for 5. However, on a slow, unresponsive track, Mumbai hold all the aces and can be expected to take a handy first-innings lead. After being sent in, HP's openers provided a solid start, reaching 50 without loss before Nayar struck; his wicket-to-wicket line paid off as he claimed two lbw victims. Dhawal Kulkarni too got into the act with a double-strike to further jolt HP before Sarandeep and Mannu started the repair job. The pair's 101-run partnership lent some respectability to the total but another slide started when off-spinner Ramesh Powar got rid of Mannu. Nayar returned to get rid of Sarandeep and ran through the tail to finish with career-best figures. Another POV Sensational spell by Nayar G. Viswanath Ahmedabad: Mumbai medium-pacer Abhishek Nayar tricked half-a-dozen Himachal Pradesh batsmen in a sensational and lion-hearted display on the opening day of their Ranji quarterfinal at the Motera here on Friday. At the start of the Ranji Trophy season, Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer had stated that Abhishek Nayar had been included in the squad as a batsman who could chip in with the ball. Having made his name as a promising all-rounder a couple of seasons ago, he had drawn criticism after a poor run with the ball last year, when Mumbai failed to make the knock-out stages. A drop in form had seen Nayar had been dropped from the playing XI for Mumbai's opening game against Rajasthan this season, and a dengue attack kept him in bed for four weeks. "It was hard to believe that I was dropped, it really hurt. But I just told myself to wait for my chance so I could prove myself," Nayar said on Friday. Nayar, weakened and rendered out of action for a major part of the Super League due to dengue, had recuperated just enough to test his strength against Punjab at the Brabourne Stadium last week. Though skipper Wasim Jaffer had assigned a batting role for him, Nayar’s chance to strike the big blows came with the ball first. Nayar had bowled well against Punjab in the last league game, and Jaffar handed him the ball to see if anything clicked. Nayar got Sangram almost immediately, edge straight to Jaffar at second slip, and one ball later, he had Vinit Indulkar, the former Mumbai batsman, trapped in front. His six for 45 in three spells helped Mumbai restrict Himachal to 250 after winning the toss. Vinayak Samant and Jaffer then faced an awkward six overs as Mumbai closed the day at 19 without loss. Bad start The happy ending did not have a good start for Mumbai, though. Desperate for wickets, the out-of-form Ajit Agarkar began the proceedings with successive short balls which the in-form Bhavin Thakkar ducked underneath without fuss. Agarkar bowled a wicketless spell of seven overs and so did partner Dhawal Kulkarni. The latter overstepped the popping crease eight times during this spell, and 11 times overall. The Himachal openers, Thakkar and Sangram Singh, hung around for an hour and 40 minutes, adding 50. Two appeals, when Sangram defended without offering the bat, did not impress the umpires Sanjiv Rao and Shavir Tarapore. The breakthrough Standing at second slip, Jaffer looked a disappointed man. After all, he had sent Himachal in, expecting his three-pronged seam attack to rip off the top-order. Disappointment turned to delight when Jaffer saw a snick heading his way at comfortable height when Nayar dragged Sangram across. The Mumbai medium-pacer then removed Vineet Indulkar for a first ball duck and trapped Mukesh Sharma in front. Kulkarni forced Thakkar to flick to Powar at square-leg and also got rid of Paras Dogra as Himachal was reduced to 74 for five. Reviving the innings The sixth wicket pair of Ajay Mannu (61, 97b, 8x4, 1x6) and off-spinner Sarandeep Singh (75, 121b, 6x4) rescued the team with a 101-run association. Leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule, playing his 100th Ranji match, could not make any impression on the flat wicket. In the session between lunch and tea, Himachal made 107 runs and lost just one wicket. Thereafter, Sarandeep and Vishal Bhatia added 48 for the seventh wicket before Nayar returned to break the stand and mop up the tail. "I wanted to show that I'm not an ordinary player. Earlier, there was talk that Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan would be playing this match, which might have put me back on the bench. I have done my job now, and have given the team management something to think about," said Nayar. Gujarat v Uttar Pradesh in Vadodara, Day 1 Uttar Pradesh 242 for 6 (Raina 93, Parvinder Singh 53*) v Gujarat Scorecard Raina misses ton Suresh Raina hit 93 to push Uttar Pradesh to 242 for 6 after being put into bat by Gujarat in Vadodara. However, Gujarat will be happy with the end-of-the-day situation as UP were sitting pretty at 108 for 1 at one stage. After the early loss of the in-form Tanmay Srivastava, Raina combined with the opener Shivakant Shukla to take UP to a healthy position. However, the run-outs of Shukla and Mohammad Kaif hampered their progress. Raina, who has a solitary fifty this season, hit 12 fours and four sixes in a 172-ball stay, but fell to Ashraf Makda to leave UP in more trouble at 160 for 4. Parvinder Singh then scored a patient unbeaten fifty to ensure Gujarat didn't run away with the game. Medium-pacer Siddharth Trivedi and off-spinner Mukund Parmar didn't do much damage but Makda chipped in with two wickets to keep Gujarat in the hunt. Another POV Gujarat puts U.P. on the backfoot J.R. Shridharan VADODARA: Gujarat dominated proceedings on day one packing six Uttar Pradesh batsmen off for 242 in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at Motibagh here on Friday. Two unwarranted run outs (Shivkanth Shukla and Mohd. Kaif) and two extravagant strokes by Suresh Raina (93, 172b, 244m, 12x4, 4x6) and Piyush Chawla allowed Gujarat gain the upper hand. Shaky start Put in, U.P. was off to a shaky start losing prolific scorer of the season Tanmay Srivastava in the sixth over. Tanmay played a tentative stroke to an Ashraf Makda delivery resulting in wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel taking a regulation catch. Raina, who joined Shukla, stood up to the attack and began playing his natural strokes. He greeted Gujarat’s trump card off-spinner Mohnish Parmar with an elegant flick followed by a straight six. Raina was in his element, taking the wind out of the sails of leggie Timil Patel with two soaring sixes in his very first over. At lunch U.P. was 90 for one in 35 overs. The post lunch session saw Shukla and Kaif committing hara-kiri. Shukla set off for a run but bowler Parmar ran to collect the ball from mid-on and hit the timber. A few overs later, Kaif and Raina were involved in a terrible mix-up resulting in Kaif’s departure. Raina’s mistake Undeterred by the two quick blows Raina continued in his punishing mood and clouted the fourth six of the day and the bowler to suffer was leggie Timil. Raina, at 93, keen to reach his hundred in style, played an ambitious shot at the stroke of tea and perished at deep mid-wicket. Chawla played a couple of flashy strokes but the will to stay and see the team through the day was missing. A big heave at the second new ball off Makda proved detrimental as Amit Singh took a well-judged catch at fine-leg. Parmar’s hard work paid off as he had Bhuvneshwer Kumar playing him on. Parvender Singh (53, 164m, 145b, 5x4, 2x6) and Amir Khan ensured no further loss of wicket. R.P. Singh did not figure in the U.P. team owing to a shoulder injury. Karnataka v Saurashtra in Mumbai, Day 1 Karnataka 265 for 8 (Uthappa 139, R Jadeja 5-71) v Saurashtra Scorecard Ravindra Jadeja stars with five-wicket haul Ravindra Jadeja continued his magnificent form to restrict Karnataka and help Saurashtra gain the upper hand on the opening day of their quarter-final clash. In a marathon 30-over spell of accurate and incisive left-arm spin Jadeja bagged his fourth five-for of the season which included three wickets in seven balls to overshadow Robin Uthappa's brilliant century. Ravindra Jadeja grabbed a five-wicket haul to restrict Karnataka on the opening day At stumps R Vinay Kumar remained unbeaten on 22 after partnering Sunil Joshi in a 40-run eighth-wicket stand that frustrated Saurashtra. Jadeja was introduced in the ninth over after lunch and bowled unchanged from the Churchgate End until stumps, troubling every batsman with his variations and bounce. In matter of a few overs either side of tea Jadeja swung the momentum in Saurashtra's favour with a flurry of wickets that included the prize scalp of Rahul Dravid, who was beginning to flourish in a third-wicket partnership with Uthappa. Dravid, who struggled initially against the nagging off-stump attack of Jadeja and Jayesh Odedra, grew in confidence and was beginning to find his timing when Jadeja induced an edge with a delivery that turned and spat off the pitch. New man C Raghu tried to defend an armer that hit his pad in front of the stumps before Jadeja trapped his third victim, Thilak Naidu, with a similar delivery. Jadeja then attacked Uthappa and was unlucky not to get him when Sagar Jogiyani failed to latch on to an edge off an attempted cut. The run-flow, which had gathered momentum in the second session, dropped after tea as Jadeja did the strangle act. He stuck a double blow once again, picking up two wickets off five balls. B Akhil, the Karnataka allrounder, went for an unconvincing sweep and was bowled. With Karnataka desperately needing Uthappa to survive the final session, Jadeja nailed him on the front pad as Uthappa prodded at a delivery outside off stump. Sanjay Hazare, the umpire, took a while to make his decision but Jadeja deserved the success for his doggedness. Jadeja's success defied the teams' strategy to go in with an extra seamer: Karnataka chose to go in with debutant left-arm medium pacer S Aravind, while Saurashtra opted for Odedra, who repaid the trust with two early wickets. A few damp spots on the pitch had delayed the start by half hour in the morning, but Karnataka openers, Uthappa and KB Pawan, progressed in a relaxed fashion after Saurashtra elected to field. Though the new-ball pair of Sandeep Jobanputra and Balkrishna Jadeja, both left-armers, tried to keep an off-and-middle stump line in their attempt to get the ball back into the right-handers, their strategy did not yield a positive result in the absence of any breeze, and the duo's lack of pace helped Karnataka to flourish. Uthappa got off to a confident start with two punched drives to the midwicket boundary, and was quick to latch on to anything short, full, or wide. He had his share of luck too, when an inside edge off an attempted cut whistled over the stumps. The openers had added 53 for the first wicket when Odedra struck with his variations in pace. Getting the ball to break off the pitch by rolling the fingers over the seam, he kept the batsmen guessing. Pawan wafted at a one that moved away after pitching and CM Gautam, the centurion in the previous game, shouldered arms to one that pitched on off and moved in to hit the stumps. However, the fall of wickets did not impede Uthappa's progress as he flicked a couple of fours behind square to bring up his fifty. He cut Balkrishna for a boundary in the first over after lunch before driving him behind square for another four in the next over. As ever, he was inventive in his strokeplay. He utilised the 7-2 off-side field to quickly shuffle across and work the deliveries through midwicket. Uthappa lofted the offspinner Kamlesh Makwana over wide long-on for the first six before reaching his ton with an aggressive straight drive. It brought up his third century of the year but the celebration was muted as the job was only half done. Unfortunately Jadeja did not allow him to end on a high. Another POV Uthappa, Jadeja hog limelight Nandakumar Marar IN SMASHING FORM: Robin Uthappa lofts Kamlesh Makwana during his 139. MUMBAI: Ravindra Jadeja (five for 71) nailed three Karnataka batsmen with the arm ball, including skipper Robin Uthappa, as Saurashtra took the first day’s honours in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Brabourne Stadium here on Friday. Jadeja foxed two more batsmen with balls that turned and bounced. Rahul Dravid, after a painstaking 26 off 86 balls, was startled by one such vicious delivery and snicked to wicketkeeper Sagar Jogiyani who came up with a reflex catch high to his right. The leg-spinner emerged Saurashtra’s man of the moment, bowling unchanged for 30 overs to trigger Karnataka’s fall from 86 for two to 220 for seven. Sunil Joshi’s risk-free 23 off 68 balls at No. 8 carried the team to 265 for eight at stumps. The Karnataka all-rounder was unlucky to see umpire Suresh Shastri raise the dreaded finger though he appeared to have got an inside edge off spinner Kamlesh Makwana. The 20-year-old spun a web around the opposition batsmen and his three wickets in two overs just before the tea-break, turned the match on its head. Karnataka stuttered their way to 265 for eight at stumps, with Jadeja claiming five for 71 in 30 overs. The wicket is shaping into a turner after aiding swing earlier in the day, so skipper Jaydev Shah can afford a smile after opting to field. Supremely confident Uthappa rose to the occasion in a tough situation, supremely confident to balls pitched on the leg-stump. His century, a chanceless and entertaining effort, came off just 122 balls with 14 boundaries and a six. Jadeja beat him once at 112 but Jogiyani floored the chance. Uthappa’s 302-minute innings, in which he faced 200 balls and hit 15 fours and a six, ended when Jadeja won a leg-before appeal. Dravid began in trademark fashion, getting in line to the swing bowlers and offering the full face of the bat. However, he went into a shell before Jadeja brought an end to his 117-minute vigil at the crease. Uthappa and Dravid were involved in a third wicket stand worth 90, the captain dominant and his senior partner trying to go with the flow. The slump C. Raghu, Thilak Naidu and B. Akhil followed Dravid in quick succession, the first two getting dismissed leg-before and the third missing the line while attempting a sweep. Jadeja had earlier snapped up a low, diving catch at second slip to send back opener K.B. Pawan off Jayesh Odedra, whose reverse swing and the ability to move the ball in the air kept a check on the run flow. Uthappa believed that the wicket at the CCI had a lot of assistance for spinners, and that batting may not be easy in the second innings. Dravid may not have quite lived up to the pre-match hype, but Jadeja and Uthappa managed to add some spark to the show, on a day, which was dull in patches. Tamil Nadu v Bengal in Bangalore, Day 1 Bengal 292 for 5 (Tiwary 134*, Chakrabarthy 57, Saha 53) v Tamil Nadu Scorecard Tiwary century gives Bengal the edge Manoj Tiwary hit an attractive century to propel Bengal to 292 for 5 on a flat track at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Tiwary stitched together a 127-run partnership with Dibyendu Chakrabarty to lift Bengal from 131 for 4 towards a position of relative strength. However, on a batting beauty Bengal need at least 400 to put Tamil Nadu under pressure. In first-class matches, Manoj Tiwary has converted nine of his 12 fifty-plus scores into hundreds Tiwary has an impressive conversion rate: of the 12 times he has topped fifty, on nine occasions he has gone on to a hundred. He did offer one chance on 109, a caught-and-bowled opportunity which was fluffed by R Ashwin, but was in complete control otherwise. Tiwary employed the conventional sweep as well as the reverse-sweep to upset the spinners' rhythm. The seamers tried to attack with bouncers but Tiwary had no problems pulling on this slow wicket. He reached his hundred with a sweep and continued to play some pleasing drives against the second new ball. A gorgeous straight drive off P Amarnath stood out for its timing and a cheeky late cut after initially shaping to sweep that fooled the slip fielder stood out for its chutzpah. "This innings is special for me as it came at a time when the team needed someone to put up a big score," Tiwary told the Telegraph. "Also, I had set myself a goal at the start of the season of achieving something big. I am glad that I made a contribution today. I am looking forward to batting out the first session tomorrow. If we can extend our total, it could give us a chance of challenging Tamil Nadu." Tamil Nadu, to their credit, didn't allow Bengal to send them on a leather hunt. With the ball coming on to the bat fairly slowly, the seamers, particularly L Balaji, concentrated on stifling the batsmen with a tight off-stump line, backed up by a packed and chirpy off-side field. Balaji, on his comeback season from injury, ran in with effort, bent his back and got a few deliveries to fizz past the openers early on. He varied his deliveries well, mixing bouncers with pacy full-pitched deliveries and was a trifle unlucky to go unrewarded. Scoring was made to look fairly difficult with the bowlers giving very little away and Bengal adopting a cautious approach. The batsmen were so intent on seeing off the new ball that they played out nearly 15 overs without scoring a boundary. By getting bogged down, Bengal put pressure on themselves. The run rate barely climbed over two an over in the morning session and in the midst of this snooze fest, Tamil Nadu picked up their first wicket. C Ganapathy, the nippy right-arm seamer, got one to angle in and trap Arindham Das - who got a half stride forward - high on the pads. Das' opening partner, Rohan Banerjee, was rather unfortunately run out after a booming straight drive by Wriddhiman Saha deflected off P Amarnath's palms onto the stumps and caught him backing up too far at the other end. His dismissal brought Tiwary and Saha together in the middle and suddenly there was a lot of positive energy to the batting. Amarnath was punished for bowling a fraction too short outside the off stump, as the lack of pace allowed both batsmen to rock backward and slash with precision past the crowded off-side field. Ashwin wasn't afraid to flight the ball, even at the expense of a few boundaries. Both used their feet against the spinners to step down and cart the ball over the midwicket region and straight over the bowler's head. Saha ended the first session with a carve down to third man but fell soon after reaching his fifty. As if caught in a moment of overconfidence, he tried to get a little too cheeky against Ganapathy by sweeping a slow legcutter, only to be comprehensively trapped in front. It became a double breakthrough when Laxmi Ratan Shukla swept Ashwin, only to see the ball lob off Abhinav Mukund's boot at forward short leg and into Dinesh Karthik's gloves. Tiwary's fine hundred and Chakrabarty's gritty resistance, however, ensured Bengal didn't throw away the advantage of batting first on a placid track.

[Chandan]

Why is RP Singh not playing' date=' injured or dropped?[/quote'] Shoulder injury! Wonder how he picked that up, sitting on the bench! Meanwhile Bengal fell in a heap after Tiwari was tricked out by Balaji's slower one (yet another )!! They are all out for just 345. None of the other scorecards have been updated!