The Tamil Nadu camp had reasons to be boisterous. A crafty 151 by Jagatheesan Kousik, playing only his second first-class match, and an unbeaten 124 by Malolan Rangarajan, who woke up with fever on Friday morning but left Madhya Pradesh in a state of misery with his scintillating show in the middle, put the visiting side in a healthy position.
Gathering 292 runs for the day after resuming at 225 for five, Tamil Nadu could pat itself for a job well done on the second day of the Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy match.
It lost just two wickets and made huge gains in the form of Kousik and Malolan, who grew in stature with their superb batting display.
Madhya Pradesh did nothing right on a pitch that held no threat. Its bowling and fielding went to pieces in the face of a calculated charge by Kousik and Malolan. They reminded each other to take it “one ball at a time” and MP came to grief as runs flowed fluently through the day. The new ball had no impact and was dealt with severely as Kousik and Malolan clouted the bowlers with disdain.
FocusedKousik, nicknamed puli (tiger) by his mates, was in roaring form. “I focused on building the innings since it was not easy to bat initially.
“They spread the field and one had to score in singles. I was happy doing that. I had planned to hang in there was a brief tough phase when I had walked in to the new ball last evening. I enjoyed my batting today,” said the Mass Communications student from Coimbatore. Injury to Vijay Shankar paved the way for Kousik’s inclusion in the team.
For Malolan, it was a different challenge. “Honestly, I like pressure situations because I tend to do well when under pressure. The team needed me and it did not matter if I was sick. I had to stand up to the demand made by my team even though it was out of character for me not to play the lofted shots.
“I kept telling me to avoid shots in the air and was happy waiting for the loose balls,” he said. He still smashed three sixes in his 226-ball essay that included seven fours too.
Kousik was a treat. He lost R. Prasanna (70 off 166 balls) this morning with the latter adding just 19 runs today in the 83-run association but the sixth wicket partnership between Kousik and Malolan, worth 196 runs, broke Madhya Pradesh’s spirit as the home players put up a meek fight.
It took a fine catch, low to his right by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha, to end the fine innings by Kousik.
Kousik, 14 overnight, hit 17 fours and two 6s in his 272-ball knock that has placed Tamil Nadu in a position to dictate.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: K. Bharath Shankar b Datey 1, Abhinav Mukund c & b Birla 24, B. Aparajith c Naman Ojha b Pandey 56, Dinesh Karthik b Pandey 29, B. Indrajith c Ojha b Birla 47, R. Prasanna c Ojha b Birla 70, J. Kousik c Ojha b Datey 151, Malolan Rangarajan (batting) 124, A. Crist (batting) 8; Extras (lb-3, nb-3, w-1): 7; Total (for seven wkts. in 180 overs): 517.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-69, 3-100, 4-115, 5-201, 6-284, 7-480.
Madhya Pradesh bowling: Ishwar Pandey 35-8-117-2, Puneet Datey 35-8-76-2, Yogesh Rawat 29-6-100-0, Udit Birla 22-7-46-3, Ankit Sharma 28-1-57-0, Jalaj Saxena 18-1-57-0, Rameez Khan 11-2-36-0, Ankit Shrivastava 2-0-9-0.
