Bhatia, Gokulakrishna in record last wicket stand

Tamil Nadu made a superb recovery on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group C match against Orissa at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack on Saturday and symbolising this was a record last wicket partnership of 137 runs off 34.3 overs between No 10 Rajat Bhatia and No 11 J Gokulakrishna.

The two came together shortly before tea with Tamil Nadu in trouble at 190 for nine. They took the score to 222 at tea and dominated the bowling in the last session. Both went boldly for their strokes. The 20-year-old Bhatia was slightly more aggressive and hit 72 in 166 minutes. He faced 93 balls and hit nine of them to the ropes. The 27-year-old Gokulakrishna who remained unbeaten with 59 batted 147 minutes. He faced 126 balls and hit five boundaries. Bhatia was out shortly before the scheduled close.

The partnership is the fourth highest for the tenth wicket in the 66-year-old national competition. It surpassed the previous best for this wicket for Tamil Nadu, 130 between NJ Venkatesan and CR Rangachari against Madhya Pradesh in 1951.

Tamil Nadu made a poor start losing five wickets for 74. A sixth wicket partnership of 58 runs off 15 overs between skipper Sridharan Sarath (60) and Vasanth Saravanan (27) retreived the innings. Sarath played the sheet anchor role, batting 196 minutes, facing 115 balls and hitting 12 fours. Coming in at 47 for three, he was ninth out at 190. Wicketkeeper Reuben Paul chipped in with a valuable 22. Then came the last wicket stand that boosted the Tamil Nadu total to 327. Mohanty, A Barrick and Bipin Singh all took three wickets each.