Building on M. Vijay’s ton from the first day, namesake Vijay Shankar and B. Aparajith slammed tons as Tamil Nadu declared its first innings at an imposing 530 for eight on day two here.
Odisha ended the day on 36 for no loss, safely seeing through the final 13 overs of the day.
Resuming on 292 for three, overnight batsman Vijay Shankar and B. Indrajith had to contend with a probing spell of bowling by the Odisha pacers. The bowlers were helped by the early winter morning nip in the air and the moisture. They were quickly rewarded, albeit a soft dismissal, when Indrajith was caught behind down the leg side for 46.
However, Aparajith who returned to the side replacing M. Kaushik Gandhi, steadied the ship along with Vijay Shankar to take the side to 382 for four at lunch. Vijay Shankar adapted well to the slow nature of the wicket as he crafted his innings with patience picking singles. At the other end, Aparajith started off with a couple of boundaries edged to the third region before settling in.
Speaking about his knock, Vijay Shankar said, “I curbed most of my shots and wanted to play long and play till the end.” The all-rounder who has had impressive performances with the India A side added, “I was desperate to play a long innings. I had a good A series but it was 50s and 60s. It was about playing long and playing 180 or 200 balls. It has been a long time for me since I played a long innings.”
In his first fifty, Vijay had only three boundaries and just one six over covers off left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh. Post his fifty, the all-rounder upped his pace significantly but without going for expansive shots taking only 65 more balls to complete his hundred.
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In the second session, TN scored at fairly brisk pace adding 112 runs in 28.4 overs with both Vijay and Aparajith running well and finding the boundaries with bit more ease as they stitched together a 177-run partnership for the fifth wicket. However Vijay Shankar was unlucky to be trapped leg before off Biplab Samantray after getting an inside edge onto his pads.
At the other end Aparajith picked runs easily as he scored his seventh first class ton and the second of the season in as many matches. He raced through the nineties with pull over long on and glorious straight drive, both off Samantray. With the batsmen setting the game up in the first two days, the bowlers have a huge task to get 20 wickets in the last two days on a docile wicket.
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