Mumbai find Badani, Robin two hot to handle

MUMBAI, APRIL 11: Hemang Badani and Robin Singh packed a double whammy on Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. The fifth-wicket duo ...

MUMBAI, APRIL 11: Hemang Badani and Robin Singh packed a double whammy on Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. The fifth-wicket duo farmed an attack that lacked imagination to reap a power-packed unbroken association worth 248 runs off 50.1 overs. And when stumps were drawn on Day One of the five-day Ranji Trophy semi-final, Tamil Nadu riding on the left-handed compliments from Badani (batting 162) and Robin (batting 142) had managed to snatch a big initiative from their fancied opponents.

While Robin soared over the association with his exuberant running between the wickets, savage pulls and lofted shots, the 24-year-old Badani was a picture of poise and elegance. Besides, the 37-year-old Tamil Nadu skipper, displaying admirable resilience in the humid conditions constantly egged on his junior partner, who too flourished in his company. They not only pulled Tamil Nadu from a miserable position of 149-4, but have also marginalised the opposition’s chances to a large extent. On a track offering bounce and turn, the Mumbai bowlers were guilty of erring in line and length paving way for the run-fest.

Put into bat, Tamil Nadu suffered an early jolt when their most prolific run-getter this season, Sridharan Sriram fished at an Ajit Agarkar outswinger. Badani, who replaced Sriram, alongwith Sadagopan Ramesh (44) appeared to have offset the loss by stringing a 93-run alliance. But Ramesh, who was shaping up well, tried to test the arm of point fielder Amol Muzumdar and paid the penalty when the latter found the batsmen well short of his crease with a direct hit. Jayaraman Madanagopal (4) and Sridharan Sharath (12) didn’t last long leaving Tamil Nadu in a precarious position.

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But in walked a veteran of many such battles, Robin Singh. He straight-away began milking the bowling with deft placements. Robin was in full flight in the concluding session of the day, which saw Tamil Nadu stack up 177 runs.

Robin was severe on the spinners Ramesh Powar and Rajesh Powar tonking them for two sixes each. All the while Badani was content playing the sheet anchor’s role. Badani, who regaled a sizeable audience with some splendid cover drives and straight drives, was the first to reach the three-figure mark (163b, 276m, 17×4), which was his fourth in the National championship. Robin followed soon after with a majestic drive through covers off Abey Kuruvilla to log his 15th century (129b, 185m, 11×4, 3×6) in the tournament.

Incidentally, both Badani and Robin are fast approaching their career-best scores. While Badani is two runs short of improving upon his earlier best knock of 164 scored against Hyderabad in his debut season (1996-97), Robin is 10 runs away from his career-high of 152 against Punjab (1987-88).

Interestingly, Robin’s career-best score was posted in a Ranji semi-final which has a strange resemblance to the ongoing contest. Then Robin had walked in with Tamil Nadu placed at 163-4 and alongwith V Sivaramakrishnan (122) took the side of troubled waters. Tamil Nadu made 601 while Punjab lost out on the first innings lead as they could only muster 416. That was the year when Tamil Nadu went on to win the title for the first time.

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No wonder, later in the day, Robin was eyeing a score of 600, hoping to bat Mumbai out of the match. With the bowlers having frittered the advantage the onus now completely rests on the Sachin Tendulkar-powered batting line-up.

Scoreboard

Tamil Nadu (1st innings): Sridharan Sriram c Dighe b Agarkar 2 (10b, 10m)
Sadagopan Ramesh run out (Muzumdar) 44 (78b, 119m, 6×4)
Hemang Badani batting 162 (246b, 401m, 25×4)
Jayraman Madanagopal c Dighe b Saxena 4 (12b, 21m, 1×4)
Sridharan Sharath c Muzumdar b Powar 12 (44b, 49m, 2×4)
Robin Singh batting 142 (157b, 220m, 15×4, 5×6)
Extras: (10b, 12lb, 2w, 7nb) 31
Total: (for four wickets in 90 overs; 412 mins) 397
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Sriram, 2.5 overs), 2-97 (Ramesh, 24), 3-108 (Madanagopal, 28), 4-149 (Sharath, 39.5)

Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 19-3-60-1, Santosh Saxena 14-1-65-1 (1w), Abey Kuruvilla 19-4-77-0 (6nb, 1w), Sachin Tendulkar 10-0-46-0 (1nb), Ramesh Powar 17-2-74-1, Rajesh Pawar 11-2-53-0