On a day when 15 wickets fell, it was Tamil Nadu who had their noses in front as they led Jharkhand by 73 runs in their Ranji Trophy clash at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati on Friday. After ending their opening essay on 285, Tamil Nadu restricted Jharkhand to 226 to earn a 59-run first innings lead. Left-arm spinner M Siddharth (4-37) and part-time offie M Shahrukh Khan (3-36) did the bulk of damage. Tamil Nadu, in the second innings, were 14 for 2 at stumps on Day 2.
It needed just 35 minutes in the morning session for Jharkhand to conclude Tamil Nadu’s first innings. Jharkhand opener Utkarsh Singh (52, 10x4) looked in good touch before medium-pacer Sandeep Warrier (2-28) dismissed him. From thereon, it was the Tamil Nadu spinners’ show all the way.
The biggest weapon for Tamil Nadu arrived in the form of Shahrukh Khan. The 26-year-old may have made a name for himself with his power hitting, but Shahrukh showed he had skills with the ball too. He got his maiden first-class wicket in the form of Jharkhand skipper Saurabh Tiwary (58, 7x4, 1x6) --- caught at slips by Baba Indrajith. Shahrukh teamed up with Sai Kishore (1-38) to get rid of Jharkhand middle-order before Siddharth ran through the tail in the final session of play. At close, Baba Aparajith (7 batting) and Sai Kishore (1 batting) were in the middle.
Despite so many wickets falling, Siddharth felt batsmen could still score runs on the wicket. “We kept things tight right through the innings. The wicket is definitely taking turn but remains good enough to bat on. If our batsmen get their eye in on Day 3, runs will come,” Siddharth told TOI.
Scoreboard:
Tamil Nadu 1st innings (O/N 256-7): N Jagadeesan c Kushagra b Mishra 19, M Mohammed b Mishra 7, M Siddharth b Mishra 8, Sandeep Warrier n.o. 4; Extras (b9, lb6, w3) 18; Total (All out in 80.2 overs): 285; FoW: 1-15, 2-16, 3-21, 4-32, 5-203, 6-235, 7-244, 8-264, 9-272, 10-285; Bowling: Ashish 12-4-30-1, Rahul Shukla 14-2-57-3, Nadeem 23-2-83-1, Sushant 10.2-1-39-3, Utkarsh 7-1-18-0, Anukul 14-4-43-2. Jharkhand 1st innings: Utkarsh c †Jagadeesan b Warrier 52, N Siddiqui c Shankar b Warrier 17, K Kushagra c Indrajith b Sai Kishore 14, Saurabh Tiwary c Indrajith b Shahrukh Khan 58, Virat Singh c Suryaprakash b Siddharth 17, K Suraj lbw b Shahrukh 19, Anukul lbw b Shahrukh 17, S Nadeem lbw b Siddharth 1, Sushant Mishra c Sai Kishore b Siddharth 4, Ashish Kumar n.o. 8, Rahul Shukla lbw b Siddharth 5; Extras (b 11, lb1, nb2) 14; Total (All out in 74.3 overs): 226; FoW: 1-25, 2-58, 3-131, 4-165, 5-177, 6-199, 7-200, 8-204, 9-208, 10-226; Bowling: Warrier 11-5-28-2, Siddharth 16.3-3-37-4, Sai Kishore 11-2-38-1, Mohammed 8-1-23-0, Aparajith 6-1-32-0, Kaushik 10-2-20-0, Shahrukh Khan 12-3-36-3. Tamil Nadu 2nd innings: K Gandhi c Kushagra b Shukla 1, L Suryapprakash c & b Shukla 2, B Aparajith batting 7, Sai Kishore batting 1; Extras (lb 1, w 2) 3; Total (For 2 wickets in 9 overs): 14; FoW: 1-2, 2-12; Bowling: Rahul Shukla 4-1-4-2, Ashish Kumar 2-0-9-0, Nadeem 2-2-0-0, Anukul 1-1-0-0
