Robin leads from the front, puts Tamil Nadu in command
Propelled by a fine 106 by skipper Robin Singh on the second morning, Tamil Nadu amassed 477 runs in the first innings of their South Zone Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka at the IIT-Chemplast Ground in Chennai on Thursday
Natarajan Sriram
09-Nov-2000
Propelled by a fine 106 by skipper Robin Singh on the second morning,
Tamil Nadu amassed 477 runs in the first innings of their South Zone
Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka at the IIT-Chemplast Ground in
Chennai on Thursday. Karnataka, in response scored 103 for 2 when
stumps were drawn.
Resuming at the overnight score of 284 for 6, Robin Singh and S Mahesh
(36) took control of the proceedings to forge a 129 run seventh wicket
stand. During the course of their partnership, Mahesh was merely a
spectator as Robin Singh went from strength to strength and before
long notched up his 16th century in the national competition. Mahesh
was the first to be dismissed just before the stroke of lunch, caught
by Thilak Naidu off Vadiaraj. Robin himself did not last long and two
overs into the post lunch session Vijay Bharathwaj trapped him leg
before.
Tamil Nadu's innings was just not over as Indian team discard Aashish
Kapoor (62) found some good company in the tailenders, especially WD
Balaji Rao who stood his ground with a resolute 5 runs off 26 balls.
But this gave ample impetus for Kapoor and by the time he fell he made
sure that the Tamil Nadu scorecard read 477.
Karnataka in their first innings had an early setback losing J Arun
Kumar (8) in the seventh over, when Kumaran shattered his defences.
But Mithun Beerala (46) and Barrington Rowland (42) put their heads
down to take the score to 92. Tamil Nadu made another comeback when
Balaji Rao struck a vital blow late in the day. With only 8 overs to
go for stumps, Beerala fell leg before. Sujith Somasundar (3) and
Rowland negotiated the rest of the overs.