A pitch as flat as a pancake. An insipid bowling attack. And a top-class batting line-up. When you blend in these ingredients in cricket, it would result in a red-faced fielding unit making the long trudge back to the dressing room at stumps.
Hosts Tamil Nadu, on this occasion, gave Karnataka the pain and quite a bit of tan as they accumulated a healthy 260 for two on the opening day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday.
Top-scorer Baba Aparajith (85 runs, 228m, 174b, 10x4, 1x6) and Subramaniam Badrinath (61 runs, 208m, 148b, 4x4, 1x6) walked back unconquered — having already amassed 150 runs for the third wicket.
As expected, TN skipper Lakshmipathy Balaji signalled to his openers as soon as he called it right at the toss. From then on, Karnataka were, largely, on a leather hunt.
Openers Abhinav Mukund (51 runs, 121b, 5x4) and K.B. Arun Karthick (50 runs, 99b, 5x4) laid a solid foundation, stitching a 106-run stand in 34.1 overs. Part-time tweaker Ganesh Satish provided Karnataka the much-needed breakthrough.
The off-spinner, sporting a peroxide mane, trapped Karthick in front with a ball that held its line. Abhinav too departed as soon as he reached his fifty when he was caught behind off a Sunil Raju delivery that spun and bounced.
Aparajith, playing only his fifth first-class game, was on the button from the start. Predominantly an on-side player, the 18-year-old showed a lot of maturity when Karnataka employed a negative line.
The youngster had to tackle half-a-dozen fielders manning the leg side area. Aparajith danced down the wicket on a regular basis to nullify the angle. He slammed left-arm spinner KP Appanna over long off — a shot that accentuated his arrival at the big stage.
Aparajith, whose previous best in first-class was an unbeaten 44 against Delhi, exhibited delicate late-cuts and crisp drives. He looks good to reach the three-figure mark on the morrow.
The experienced Badrinath, at the other end, was at his usual best. He was the fourth TN batsman to register a half-century for the day which came in 119 deliveries.
Of his many exquisite shots, a massive six hit over long-on off Sunil was easy on the eye. The less said about the visitors’ bowling attack, the better.
Except Appanna, none of the Karnataka bowlers were able to test the Tamil Nadu batsmen. Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar was still optimistic. “The toss was always going to be crucial on a flat pitch like this. We, however, are confident of bowling well tomorrow and making early inroads,” he said.
SCORECARD
Tamil Nadu: (1st innings): Abhinav Mukund c C.M. Gautam b Sunil 51, K.B. Arun Karthick lbw b Ganesh 50, B. Aparajith (batting) 85, S. Badrinath (batting) 61. Extras (b10, lb1, nb2): 13. Total (for two wickets in 90 overs): 260.
FoW: 1-106, 2-110.
Bowling: Vinay 11-2-38-0; Mithun 12-2-30-0; Appanna 21-1-57-0; Binny 8-1-29-0; Sunil 24-4-72-1; Amit 11-2-21-0; Ganesh 2-1-1-1; Pawan 1-0-1-0.