Ranji Trophy 2018-19: Mukund, Jagadeesan stage rescue act for Tamil Nadu

N. Jagadeesan and Abhinav Mukund scored important centuries and helped Tamil Nadu salvage a draw against Hyderabad.

N. Jagadeesan plays a shot en route to his unbeaten 131.

N. Jagadeesan (131 n.o., 201b, 16x4, 3x6) and Abhinav Mukund (178, 398b, 25x4) put up a fighting 171-run stand for the fourth wicket as Tamil Nadu secured a draw against Hyderabad in its Ranji Trophy clash at the Sankar Cements grounds on Thursday.

For Jagadeesan it is his third class First Class ton, and incidentally it turned out to be the best for him.

The other day, Abhinav had said it is important to see through the first hour without losing a wicket. But it went a bit awry as the in-form skipper Baba Indrajith edged a Ravi Kiran beauty to Sumanth behind the stumps in the sixth over of the day.

As it Happened

In walked Jagadeesan and the young man looked confident and pleased as he had a class partner in Abhinav.

The duo had opened for the State in the Vijay Hazare Trophy this year and share a great understanding. They proved that to a good measure with their rock-solid stand.

Both defended well and punished only the loose deliveries that crossed their path. Of course, they were not gifted many as the opposition bowlers maintained a tight line right through.

The scorecard moved at a snail’s pace but it did not matter as the duo knew it was not easy to chase 402 on the last day, and on a track like this.

They were tested no doubt but showed immense patience and looked good for most part. However, leg spinner Akash Bhandari crushed their hopes of posting a double hundred stand with a dicey delivery.

Abhinav tried to reverse sweep and gifted a catch to Tanmay Agarwal at first slip. It turned out to be pretty costly but Jagadeesan, who cut, drove and glided the ball like a master batsman, probably played the game of his life to steer the team to safety.

Hyderabad skipper Akshath Reddy knew there was nothing left in the game and called it off before the start of the mandatory overs. Both teams shared a point each.

“When I went in it was obviously a very important situation for us. We really knew we had to save the game and there was no point in throwing it away. We focussed a lot and carried it through session by session,” said Jagadeesan.