Ranji Trophy: Tamil Nadu crawl to 192/3 at Eden

KOLKATA: The way Tamil Nadu batted on the opening day of their five-day Ranji Trophy semifinal against Maharashtra, it seemed as if they are strong believers in the adage 'slow but steady wins the race.'
Having opted to bat first after winning the toss at the Eden Gardens, Tamil Nadu crawled to 192 for 3 at stumps on Wednesday.
Openers Abhinav Mukund and Murali Vijay were understandably cautious to start with, but strangely didn't open up even after seeing off the new ball and the tricky first hour.
That was the policy of all their batsmen almost throughout the day as TN scored at around two runs per over. It was only a late flourish from Vijay Shankar that helped TN raise the tempo a bit and cross the 150-run mark.
However, credit should be given to the Maharashtra pacers as all four of them maintained a tight line and length on a pitch which didn't offer any assistance.
Both openers batted for about two hours, but never got on top of the bowling. The pressure perhaps got to lefthander Mukund who, in trying to force the pace, was caught at deep square leg by Chirag Khurana off Anupam Sanklecha for 23.
Current India opener Vijay consumed 109 balls for his 28 before he too lost patience and edged an away-going Dominic Joseph delivery to wicketkeeper after lunch.
Vijay Shankar then took charge and started playing his shots. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, too, settled down after a circumspect start and the two took the battle to the Maharashtra camp for the first time in the day.
They shared an unbroken 102-run fourth-wicket stand with Shankar remaining unbeaten on 56 (97b, 7x4) and Karthik on 48 (156b, 8x4).
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 1923 (D Karthik batting 48, V Shankar batting 56; S Fallah 148)