Aparajith stands tall amidst Tamil Nadu ruins in Ranji

Sent in to bat, TN was off to a horror start losing opener K Mukunth and M Kaushik Gandhi in the sixth over with the score reading seven for 2. The lanky Ishwar Pandey extracted bounce and troubled the batsmen with his lateral movement taking six wickets for 26 runs. Left-handed opener V Ganga Sridhar Raju safely negotiated the initial tough period before falling for 43 off Avesh Khan. Debutant C Hari Nishanth was unfazed by the situation and ground out a knock of 22 off 54 balls with three fours. Captain B Aparajith once again stood tall amid the ruins scoring an unbeaten 61 off 106 balls consisting of 11 fours. Wicketkeeper N Jagadeesan’s poor form continued as he fell for only three.However, TN bowlers helped their team claw its way back taking three MP wickets as the host ended the first day’s play at 56 in 20 overs. Left-arm paceman T Natarajan was the pick of the lot taking two wickets for 23 runs and K Vignesh scalped the wicket of opener A Bais.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 149 (V Ganga Raju 43, B Aparajith 61*, Ishwar Pandey 6/26) vs Madhya Pradesh 56/3 (T Natarajan 2/23); Delhi 269/6 in 66 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 137 not out, Anuj Rawat 29, Kunwar Bidhuri 22 not out) vs Hyderabad

New Delhi: Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was supposed to prove his fitness during the Ranji Trophy match between Gujarat and Kerala, did not feature in the game which began at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium on Wednesday. Bumrah was expected to mark his return in the Elite Group A game of the ongoing Ranji Trophy. However, reports emerged that Bumrah was asked by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to stay away from Gujarat’s game.