Ranji Trophy: Abhinav Mukund Shines as Tamil Nadu Close in on Karnataka
Abhinav Mukund scored 84 off 221 balls during the day hitting nine boundaries. The Tamil Nadu opener hit a cautious note after his opening partner Kaushik Gandhi (12) and Baba Aparajith (5) were sent back by Arvind Sreenath and captain R Vinay Kumar to leave the visitors reeling at 39 for two.
Abhinav Mukund and captain Ramaswamy Prasanna's crucial half century knocks helped Tamil Nadu seize control on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match against Karnataka at Chinnaswamy stadium here on Monday.
In reply to Karnataka's first innings total of 290 all out, Tamil Nadu ended the second day's play at 240 for five, still trailing by 50 runs, with Prasanna batting on 51 in company of right-hand batsman Vijay Shankar on 18.
The duo added 45 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket.
In the entire day, TN could add just 218 runs to their overnight 22 for no loss and in the process lost five wickets, but they somehow managed to frustrate the Karnataka bowlers.
Another India discard Dinesh Karthik also made an useful contribution of 38 runs.
The day completely belonged to Mukund, who dropped anchor but did not accelerate the rate of scoring as he seemed to have a plan up his sleeves to take first innings lead to gain vital points.
Mukund scored 84 off 221 balls during the day hitting nine boundaries. The Tamil Nadu opener hit a cautious note after his opening partner Kaushik Gandhi (12) and Baba Aparajith (5) were sent back by Arvind Sreenath and captain R Vinay Kumar to leave the visitors reeling at 39 for two.
Mukund was trapped leg before wicket off right-arm mediumpacer H S Sharath with Karnataka scorecard reading 195 for five, after he along with Karthik rescued the team by putting on a crucial 90 runs for third wicket.
Karthik also played a very sedate innings off 123 balls, but cracked as many as seven boundaries. He, however, lost his concentration after he edged one to wicketkeeper Chidambaram Gautam off Sharath. Baba Indrajith did not last long as he was trapped by Shreyas Gopal for six.
Once Shankar came in, there was no further damage as he along with Prasanna steadied the boat.
Karnataka bowlers had a very gruelling day on the field. They managed two wickets in first two sessions and one post-tea session. The pick of the bowlers was Sharath with figures of two for 22 from 17 overs, while Gopal, Kumar and Sreenath bagged wicket apiece.
Brief scores:
Karnataka 1st innings: 290
TN 1st innings: 240 for 5 in 99 overs (Abhinav Mukund 84, Ramaswamy Prasanna 51 not out; HS Sharath 2/22).