Gandhi gives TN draw and its first point

On the strength of the Chepauk Super Gillies captain’s marathon knock Tamil Nadu made 377 for seven in its second innings to thwart MP, which was in a position to get full points from the match, TN, which had lost both its home matches, has now opened its account in the nine-team league with one points from the draw. Madhya Pradesh gets three points from the match for the first-innings lead.

After the first day, getting a result looked certain, but things went the other way round on the following days. The match turned on its head on the second day. From a bowler’s heaven it turned into a batting paradise on the last three days of the match. In between, two hours of play was lost on day 2 due to solar eclipse.

Tamil Nadu was 177 for four on the third day in 67 overs after losing the wicket of Jagadeesan just before close of play. Kaushaik Gandhi was batting on 66. With Baba Aparajith (39), Gandhi added 71 runs for the fifth wicket in 25.5 overs

Then came the best part of the TN innings. K Mukunth (52 not out, 119 balls, 6x4) gave Gandhi able support as the duo put on 108 runs for the sixth wicket in 31.3 overs to virtually save the match. Gandhi’s innings (154, 16x4, 5x6) came to an end after 340 minutes of stay at the crease.Ishwar Pandey (6/26) in the first innings, and Kaushik Gandhi were adjudged Men of the Match for their contributions.  

Brief scores: TN 149 in 59 overs and 377/7 in 131.4 overs (Kaushik Gandhi 154, N Jagadeesan 54, K Mukunth 52*, B Aparajith 39, K Sen 2/59) drew with MP 333 all out in 97.3 overs