Tail wags to Lord over TN

Tamil Nadu showed in no small measure that they had done their homework well to get rid of Mumbairsquos toporder batsmen However when it came to dislodging Test man Shardul Thakur on Day Two of their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Mumbai they were akin to befuddled students struggling with an outofsyllabus question paperAt the MCABKC ground on Sunday Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur or should that read allrounder now utterly changed the equation in favour of Ajinkya Rahane amp Co scoring his maiden century in just 89 ballsAlso Read IN PHOTOS Team Indias sheer dominance in world cricketTanush Kotian during his 74 not out yesterdayComing in as a No9 batter Thakur smashed 109 in just 105 balls with the help of 13 fours and four sixes to help Mumbai post 3539 to lead by 207 runsNo10 batter Tanush Kotian who scored an unbeaten 120 against Baroda picked up where he left off last week at the same venue His back foot drives and temperament to counter TNrsquos bowling was as good as any toporder batsman He not only gave Thakur great support as they put on 79 runs in just 76 balls He also stayed unbeaten on 74 10x4 Kotianrsquos No11 partner Tushar Deshpande who also scored a century in the previous game is giving him company with 17 not out Also Read IN PHOTOS WPL 2024 Amelia Kerrs allround performance guides MI to third winMaiden ton for ShardulPlaying his 81st firstclass game Thakur 32 went past his previous individual highest of 87 when he smashed leftarm spinner Ajith Ram for a four with a front foot helicopter shot In the next over Thakur countered Ramrsquos negative strategy by hitting an inside out six over longoff to bring up his maiden century Around 300 people turned up at the MCABKC ground hoping for the Mumbai batting lineup to shine But some of the batsmen were anything but radiant and appeared clueless while tackling the impressive TN bowling in the first sessionTN skipper and leftarm spinner Sai Kishore 697 who sent back opener Bhupen Lalwani on Saturday afternoon bowled 22 overs nonstop his first spell of the day reading 226514Musheer Khan 55 6x4 was the only batsman who looked confident before lunch but he also fell to Kishore when was brilliantly stumped by Narayan JagadeesanKishore 27 proved why he is the seasonrsquos highest wickettaker with 53 wickets so far when he broke the fourth wicket 43run stand between Musheer and skipper Ajinkya Rahane 19 dismissing Rahane through first slip fielder Baba IndrajithSai Kishore on fireKishorersquos 19th over was massive for the TN team as he dismissed Musheer and Shams Mulani 0 in the space of three balls Much was expected from India player Shreyas Iyer but he ended up being the only batter to be dismissed by a pace bowlerIyerrsquos eightball stay at the crease for his three runs was ended by Sandeep Warrier 166 through an incoming delivery Post lunch when Haradik Tamore 35 3x4 and Thakur resumed their innings at their individual score of eight each and the teamrsquos total of 1257 they batted with a dominating mindset Thakur back footpunched two successive fours and executed an offdrive off Ram in the first over after the interval He then welcomed Kishore with a six over the midwicket fence off a welltimed sweep Thakur and Tamore put on 100 runs in 131 balls and got the momentum back in favour of the hostsldquoI think we got bogged down a little in the first session There was not too much happening today Sunday in the pitch and I felt the batsmen should have played with some kind of freedom to start withrdquo Thakur saidThakur appeared to have it all covered as he walked out ldquoYou might as well play with freedom and that was the whole idea when I started battingrdquo he saidAt the end of the day everyone had a good idea of what he can produce with a bat in hand The Mumbai camp owed him more than a pat of kudosBrief scoresTN 146 all out v Mumbai 3539 S Thakur 109 T Kotian 74 M Khan 55 H Tamore 35 S Kishore 697 K Sen 265