: Two late strikes helped Tamil Nadu seize the advantage against Delhi at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match at the M A Chidambaram stadium here Tuesday.
Delhi ended the day at 35 for 2 in reply to Tamil Nadu's massive first innings score of 422 built on Abhinav Mukund's superb 134 (319 balls, 13X4) and half-centuries by captain Baba Indrajith (86) and debutant Pradosh Ranjan Paul (78, 129 balls, 12X4, 1X6) and M Shahrukh Khan 55 (139 balls, 4X4, 1X6).
For Delhi, Vikas Mishra was the best bowler, picking up 5 for 142 from 45.4 overs while Shivam Sharma took 4 for 105 from 44 overs.
R Sai Kishore struck the first blow for the host, dismissing opener Shivam Sharma (7) before Vijay Shankar effected a superb run-out to send back the other opener Kunal Chandela for 27 in the 13th over.
Earlier in the morning, Tamil Nadu resuming at 215 for 3 made slow progress with both Mukund and Vijay Shankar (17, 68 balls, 1X4) content to play the waiting game.
The Delhi bowlers-Navdeep Saini, Subodh Bhati and the spinners Shivam Sharma and Vikas Mishra maintained a good line and length to deny the host batsmen any chances to go on the offensive.
Vijay Shankar survived when he fended off a Saini delivery only to see it fall in front of the slip fielder.
However, he didn't stay too long, falling LBW to Bhati in the subsequent over.
Mukund found an able partner in newcomer Ranjan Paul, who played beautifully after struggling in the initial phase.
The two southpaws added 47 runs in 16 overs before Mukund's vigil came to an end, when he was caught by Delhi captain Nitish Rana off off-spinner Shivam Sharma.
Youngsters Paul and Shahrukh Khan, also in his debut season, joined forces and put on 82 runs for the sixth wicket.
The two played some eye-catching shots and were not afraid to go ariel, hitting a six each.
Paul fell leg-before wicket to Vikas Mishra for 78 when he looked on track for a ton.
Shahrukh Khan added 60 runs with last four wickets before being the last man dismissed, by Mishra.
Delhi left to face a little over 10 overs saw Chandela and Sharma see off the new ball attack of T Natarajan and M Mohammed.
Chandela looked in good touch and played some delightful shots, including two in succession of a Natarajan over.
The lanky Sai Kishore, who was able to extract bounce from the track, trapped Shivam Sharma leg-before.
As the host was looking to go to stumps with just a wicket down, Chandela was dimsissed when Vijay Shankar scored a direct hit.
Brief scores (at end of day two): Tamil Nadu 432 all out in 164.4 overs (Abhinav Mukund 134, B Indrajith 86, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 78, Shahrukh Khan 55, Vikas Mishra 5 for 142, Shivam Sharma 4 for 105) vs Delhi 35 for 2 in 12.5 overs.
At Indore: Andhra 132 and 198 for 7 in 64 overs (Karan Shinde 45 batting, C Gnaneshwar 43, D B Prahanth Kumar 44) vs Madhya Pradesh 91 all out in 35.5 overs (Naman Ojha 30, Girinath Reddy 6 for 29).
At Amtar: Himachal 297 all out in 96.1 overs (A R Kalsi 101, Rishi Dhawan 58, M D Nidheesh 6 for 88) vs Kerala 219 for 5 in 64 overs (P Rahul 103 batting, Mohammed Azharudden 40).
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
