Tamil Nadu were in a position of considerable strength at stumps onthe first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group C match againstHaryana at the Nehru stadium in Gurgaon on Thursday
24-Feb-2000Tamil Nadu were in a position of considerable strength at stumps onthe first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group C match againstHaryana at the Nehru stadium in Gurgaon on Thursday. After dismissingthe hosts for 208 runs, Tamil Nadu were 43 without loss at close.In fact Tamil Nadu were in a position to take a stranglehold veryearly in the match. For, shortly before lunch, Haryana were 83 forseven. However, an eighth wicket partnership of 102 runs betweenP. Jain (57) and P Thakur (53) helped Haryana to recover.Electing to bat, Haryana were rocked by a deadly spell by medium pacerGokulakrishna and were 24 for three in the tenth over. With skipperRobin Singh taking a hand, wickets fell at regular intervals eventhough opener Jitender Singh soldiered on to score 40 off 84 ballsbefore he was fifth out. Haryana were down in the dumps at lunch, butThakur and Jain then retreived their hopes with their gallantassociation that lasted 32.5 overs. While Jain faced 130 balls and hitseven of them to the ropes, Thakur’s 53 was compiled off 110 balls andhe hit six fours. Gokulakrishna, who did the early damage took threefor 40 while Robin Singh, who wrecked the middle order, had three for18 from eleven overs. Off spinner Aashish Kapoor chipped in with twofor 67 while left arm spinner Sriram, who hastened the end of theinnings captured two wickets for four runs off 9.2 overs.In the remaining ten overs, Tamil Nadu openers Kapoor and Sriramcompleted a fruitful day for their side by coming in unbeaten. Kapoorwas aggressive, hitting five fours in his 34 off 33 deliveries.