Tamil Nadu batsmen lead fightback against Mumbai

The Tamil Nadu and Mumbai tie at the Guru Nanak College Ground, Chennai was always going to be a closely contested affair. So it came as no surprise to see the home team bounce right back into the game after conceding a four-run lead in the first innings. Fifties from opener Sridharan Sriram and middle-order bat Sridharan Sharath saw them post a relatively healthy 265 for eight in their second innings. This has already meant that the Mumbai batsmen will have to better their first innings effort by a long way if they are to book their quarterfinal berth.

When the day began, the Tamil Nadu batsmen were faced with the task of batting out of the day and putting runs on the board thereby ensuring their team had the chance of securing the outright win they were looking for. Sriram (61) and No.3 C Hemath Kumar, who made 35, put their team in the right direction. J Madanagopal (45) and Robin Singh (25) continued the good work as did Sharath, who made an unbeaten 50. Tamil Nadu will now be looking to him to probably take them beyond the 300-run mark as this would leave the visitors with a stiff target in this low-scoring match. For Mumbai, spinners Rajesh Pawar, Ramesh Powar and Sairaj Bahatule claimed two wickets each.