Tamil Nadu pay the price for wrong call at coin toss; Shankar, Sundar's gritty knocks save them from embarrassment in Ranji Trophy semi-final

Tamil Nadu suffered a batting collapse on Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy semi-final clash against Mumbai after their captain Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore made the surprising call to bat first. Mumbai bowlers had a field day as they bowled out Tamil Nadu for 146 despite some resistance from all-rounders Vijay Shankar and Washington Sundar.
 

Deadly new ball claims five victims

Shardul Thakur struck with the fourth ball of the innings as he dismissed Sai Sudharsan lbw for a duck. N Jagadeesan and Pradosh Paul tried to survive against the new ball. Mohit Avasthi in his third over dismissed Jagadeesan for a single-digit score. Ajinkya Rahane made an early change to introduce Tushar Deshpande and he delivered with the wicket of Paul. Skipper Kishore could not survive against Teshpande and got bowled in the next over. He continued to make batters dance with the new ball and sent Baba Indrajith back to the dressing room. Tamil Nadu lost half their side for 42.

Sundar takes Tamil Nadu past 100

Shankar and Sundar approached the innings defensively. No more wickets fell in the first session. Just when their partnership was nearing fifty runs, Thakur once again provided the breakthrough. Shankar departed after scoring 44 runs from 109 balls. Thakur was expensive in his next over. First Sundar hit a boundary, and then M Mohammed hit four consecutive fours. Thakur bowled a no-ball as well. Rahane introduced teenager Musheer Khan into the attack and he dismissed Mohammed who contributed with a run-a-ball 17.

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Sundar stays till the end

In Musheer's next over, S Ajith Ram hit him for a six. Sundar continued to block it out and play the waiting over. Meanwhile, Ram lost his wicket to Tanush Kotian. He scored 15 runs from 37 balls. Rahane stuck with Musheer and he trapped Sandeep Warrier in front of the stumps. Warrier got out for a seven-ball duck. Sundar was the last to fall. He missed his half-century as he got out lbw to Kotian. He faced 138 balls and hit five fours in his 43-run knock. Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 146 in 64.1 overs.

Shaw falls early

Prithvi Shaw who recovered from a finger injury to play the semifinal was the first to fall. Kuldeep Sen got his wicket off the fourth ball of his first over. Skipper Kisore introduced himself into the attack and got rid of the other opener Bhupen Lalwani who scored 15 runs. Shreyas Iyer or Rahane did not come out to bat and sent nighwatchman Avasthi. Musheer remained unbeaten for 24 from 43 deliveries whereas Avasthi faced 16 balls to score one run. Mumbai were 45/2 at the end of Day 1's play trailing by 101 runs.
 

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