TN bundles out Railways for 76, take upperhand

A superb performance by bowlers R Ashwin and M Siddharth and a ton by Abhinav Mukund gave Tamil Nadu the upperhand on the opening day of its Ranji Trophy Group B match against Railways here on Sunday.

Electing to bat, the visiting team folded for 76 in 39.1 overs as the experienced Ashwin (4/26) and left-arm spinner Siddharth (4/32) ran through the railways batting order.

At stumps, the hosts were sitting pretty putting up 236 for 4.

From 15 for no loss in the 8th over, the Railways batsmen came a cropper against Ashwin and Siddharth to be bundled out in the opening session of the game.

It was a dismal display by the Railways batsmen as only three managed to reach double figures with Saurabh Singh (22) being the top-scorer.

Opener Mrunal Devdhar (5) was the first to go, caught by Ashwin off Siddharth with the total at 15 and then the slide started.

Vikranth Singh was the next to fall, caught by 'keeper Dinesh Karthik off T Natarajan one run later.

Ashwin and Siddharth took seven of the next eight wickets to fall, spinning a web around the Railways batsmen.

In reply, Abhinav Mukund (100) and fellow opener L Suryapprakash (50) provided Tamil Nadu a flying start as the left-right combination pounded the Railways attack.

Mukund was in his elements and cracked boundaries on both sides of the wicket and reached the century in his 100th Ranji Trophy game.

He hammered 12 fours and 3 sixes to put Tamil Nadu in control.

However, Suryapprakash and Mukund were dismissed in the space of four balls with the score at 156.

The experienced Dinesh Karthik settled in nicely and was batting on a 55-ball 57 (5 fours, 2 sixes) to extend the team's advantage with the lead having swelled to 160 runs at stumps.

Brief scores: Railways 76 all oput in 39.1 overs (Saurabh Singh 22; R Ashwin 4/26, M Siddharth 4/32) vs Tamil Nadu 236 for 4 in 53 overs (Abhinav Mukund 100, Dinesh Karthik 57 batting, L Suryapprakash 50).