Strike force: Lakshay and Sai Kishore scalped three wickets each to put TNCA XI in a position of strength.
| Photo Credit: M. Periasamy
Host TNCA XI gained a significant advantage as it restricted Mumbai to 141 for eight at stumps on a day when spinners ruled the roost in a Buchi Babu fixture at the Sri Ramakrishna College Cricket Ground here on Wednesday.
Even though the visitor’s Himanshu Singh (five for 81) had the best returns among the tweakers, it was the TNCA XI’s spin-trio of S. Ajith Ram (two for 29), S. Lakshay Jain (three for 30), and R. Sai Kishore (three for 30) that hunted like a pack after the side was dismissed for 379 just before lunch.
The first session started with Himanshu wreaking havoc over the TNCA XI lower-middle order.
The off-spinner removed R. Sonu Yadav, Sai Kishore and danger-man Boopathi Vaishna Kumar (82, 146b, 9×4) in quick succession to peg back the host — which started at 294 for five — to 315 for eight.
However, Ajith Ram swung the match in TNCA XI’s favour by unleashing his sweeps, scoring a quick-fire half-century (53, 69b, 7×4), and taking the total close to 400.
Sarfaraz laid low
It did not help Mumbai’s cause that skipper Sarfaraz Khan — who also did not come out to field on day two — could not bat due to an illness.
The other stalwarts, Shreyas Iyer (2) and Suryakumar Yadav (30) could not deliver as they fell to the smart plans set by the home outfit.
Mumbai will hope that opener Divyansh Saxena (61 batting, 186b, 6×4, 1×6), who showed composure amidst the frenzy, can make a match out of this on day three.
The scores (round three, day two):
At Coimbatore: TNCA XI 379 in 117.3 overs (Pradosh 65, Indrajith 61, Boopathi 82, Ajith 53, Himanshu 5/81) vs. Mumbai 141/8 in 59.1 overs (Divyansh 61 batting).
At Dindigul: Baroda 327 in 106.4 overs (Shaswat Rawat 41, Vishnu Solanki 52, Ninad Rathva 105, Gagandeep Singh 6/84) vs Chhattisgarh 214/2 in 66 overs (Ayush Pandey 52, Anuj Tiwari 84 batting, Amandeep Khare 63 batting).
At Tirunelveli: Madhya Pradesh 207 vs Hyderabad 439/5 in 103 overs (M. Abhirath 211, Hima Teja 50).
At Salem: Gujarat 371 in 109.4 overs (Kshitij Patel 62, Jaymeet Patel 144, Dhrushant Soni 44, M. Siddharth 6/76) & 6/2 in 4 overs vs. TNCA President’s XI 211 in 61.4 overs (S. Mohamed Ali 56, C. Andre Siddarth 55 n.o., Siddharth Desai 6/61).
