Right-hander hits 123* and stitches a 200-run stand with Ganapathy (70*) to rescue TN.
Subramaniam Badrinath had a point to prove. On Tuesday, Day One of Ranji Trophy Super League match here at the Bandra-Kurla Complex, the Team India hopeful hit an unbeaten 123 to steer Tamil Nadu to safety after they were left gasping for breath at 51 for 5 by Mumbai pacers.
Undeterred by the situation, Badri and sixth-down Chandrasekar Ganapathy (70 batting) stitched an unbeaten 200-run partnership to take the visitors to 251 for 5.
“I was motivated knowing that I was playing against the 37-time champions,” said Badrinath, who still has to make his Test debut.
His state-mate Murali Vijay, who played a crucial knock in India’s thumping win over Sri Lanka a week back at Brabourne, however, failed to make an impact. Leading the side in the absence of Dinesh Karthik, Vijay won the toss and elected to bat. He looked solid until he got a life on 17. Two runs later, he edged a Dhawal Kulkarni delivery to ‘keeper Vinayak Samant.
At precisely 10:23am the skipper started his long walk back to the pavilion. By the time the clock touched 11:00am, he had four of his top-order batsmen back in the hut occupying the seats next to him.
TN were on the ropes when Badri and Ganapathy joined forces. “We have lived to fight another day,” is how TN coach WV Raman described his team’s effort.
Mumbai coach Pravin Amre was happy with the day’s proceedings. “Putting table-toppers at 51/5 can’t be a bad performance,” said Amre, who also defended wicket-less spinners Ramesh Powar and Iqbal Abdulla.
Scorecard:Tamil Nadu, First innings: A Mukund c Samant b Kulkarni 15, M Vijay c Samant b Kulkarni 19, A Karthik lbw b Malvi 1, S Badrinath batting 123, S Anirudha c Kulkarni b Malvi 12, S Kumar lbw b Malvi 0, C Ganapathy batting 70; Extras (LB7, NB4) 11, Total (5 wickets; 90 overs) 251 (2.78 runs per over); FoW: 1-35 (Vijay, 10.3 ov), 2-36 (Mukund, 12.5 ov), 3-36 (Karthik, 13.3 ov), 4-50 (Anirudha, 15.4 ov), 5-50 (Kumar, 15.5 ov); Bowling: D Kulkarni 18-5-46-2 (2NB), U Malvi 19-2-67-3, R Powar 21-2-63-0 (1NB), A Nayar 10-2-22-0, I Abdulla 22-8-46-0 (1NB)
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