Delhi captain Himmat Singh paid a heavy price for misreading the conditions after some dodgy selections as B Sai Sudharsan’s disdainful maiden double century powered Tamil Nadu to a commanding 379 for 1 on the opening day of their Group D Ranji Trophy game here.
The sinewy left-hander was unbeaten on 202, having added 168 for the opening stand with N Jagadeesan (65 off 101) and another 211 runs for the second wicket with Washington Sundar (96 batting off 170 balls).
Delhi skipper Himmat was completely fooled by the thick covering of grass as the strip turned out to be flat in nature.
Navdeep Saini (1/65 in 17 overs) and Himanshu Chauhan (0/50 in 17 overs) did bowl probing opening spells but Sudharsan and Jagadeesan saw the first half an hour before feasting on some mediocre spin bowling.
Once Sudharsan’s perfectly executed upper cut off Chauhan went for a six, the floodgates opened.
With Gujarat Titans Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki watching his player keenly, Sudharsan’s repertoire of strokes must have pleased him, with the retention date approaching.
He was especially severe on left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi (16.4-0-89-0), who repeatedly lost his length and was both cut and pulled for a flurry of boundaries.
It was surprising that the Delhi team management dropped left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur, who had got nine wickets on his debut last season. He is being benched for consecutive games.
All Sudarshan did was rock back on backfoot and bludgeon Tyagi through the mid-wicket region. He did get him caught at slip, but the bowler had overstepped. Sudharsan was on 77 then.
At the other end, portly off-spinner Mayank Rawat (26-0-110-0) failed to bowl three consecutive deliveries on spot, as Jagadeesan dispatched him into the mid-wicket stands.
Saini finally got him in the post-lunch session as the extra bounce saw him drag one back to the stumps. Sudharsan, who was hardy beaten during his stay in the middle, pushed one through covers for a boundary off Saini to get to his hundred.
Washington, who was a specialist batter at the junior level before his transformation into a bowling all-rounder, played a half-defensive push past Saini, which was followed by a forward-defensive check drive through covers, to stamp his authority.
Sudharsan, at the fag end of the day, completed a well-deserved double hundred off 249 balls, with a quick single off Tyagi.
Brief Scores:
TN 379/1 (B Sai Sudharsan 202 batting, N Jagadeesan 68, Washington Sundar 96 batting) vs Delhi.
At Guwahati: Assam 249/8 in 87 overs vs Chandigarh.
At Rajkot: Chattisgarh 236/2 in 90 overs (Sanjeet Desai 81 batting, Amandeep Khare 51 batting) vs Saurashtra.
At Ahmedabad: Jharkhand 325/5 in 90 overs (Virat Singh 103 batting, Ishan Kishan 101, Nazim Siddiquie 96; Himanshu Sangwan 4/72) vs Railways.
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