An appetite that only continues to grow

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Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund and his senior partner S. Badrinath have one thing in common — fortitude; that too in profusion. And when it comes to producing runs for their state team; they put their heart and soul into it. The outstanding quality was unmistakable yet again as the Tamil Nadu finished the opening day strongly.

Badri and Abhinav recorded their first-class career’s 28th and 16th three-figure scores respectively to leave their opponents reeling.

The duo who posted a 200-plus partnership, on their way, rewrote the second-wicket record stand (187 runs) against Gujarat which was previously held by M. Vijay and KB Arun Karthik. Abhinav, who is unbeaten on a well compiled 150, wants to go ahead and garner much more.

“I was determined to play the entire day. The ball was coming on well and once I got my timing right, I knew I was looking at a big score. Tomorrow, the idea would be to play through the first hour without losing a wicket. Dinesh (Karthik) looks in good touch. We will first look to post a big score and hopefully our bowlers will come out and do the rest,” said Abhinav.

The Indian Test opener said that it was unfortunate to lose his opening partner Vijay as early as the first over. “As an opener, I know that it can be frustrating to be dismissed early on a good batting wicket. But Vijay was unlucky to have received a peach of a delivery. However, Badri and myself settled down well after the early setback,” he said. “Badri’s knock was superb. Coming back from injury, he was motivated to play a big knock. We wanted to build a partnership and take it from there. I have always enjoyed batting with Badri.”

On a day when nothing went right for the home team, Abhinav added: “Ishwar Chowdhary was the most impressive bowler of the lot. He hit the right areas consistently.”