Jagadeesan notched up his maiden Ranji Trophy double ton and carried his bat (245 n.o., 402b, 25x4, 4x6) as Tamil Nadu got to 489 on day two of the third-round Group-C match versus Railways at the SNR College cricket ground here on Saturday.
It seemed as if he felt liberated having been asked to open the innings and clutched at the chance as if it’s a lifeline.
The first three balls he played in the morning were suggestive of his intent. He offered the textbook front-foot defence for the first two balls off left-arm spinner Akash Pandey – long stride out, still head, bat smothering the ball, and all that. Then, as suddenly as a gas stove would ignite, he whacked a four to the long-on boundary – it seemed impulsive.
His batting approach had been the same throughout his marathon innings. Even when he was on 98, even when he was on 45, and even in the first hour or so on Friday when the pacers generated unsettling bounce.
He got to his hundred with a big six, to his fifty with back-to-back fours, and dared to upper-cut for four during that bouncier phase.
It was inevitable that he would surpass his previous highest Ranji score of 183 on Saturday and he did. It became inevitable that he would score a double hundred and he did. Just when it became inevitable that he would score a 250, his team had been bowled out.
Sai Kishore had said he would take total responsibility as a player for his team winning the match and he backed up his words with an 85-ball 59. He hit three fours, and three straight sixes – two off off-spinner Shivam Chaudhary, and one off leg-spinner Karn Sharma.
Jagadeesan and Sai Kishore engaged in an 84-run seventh-wicket stand.
Later on the day, Pratham Singh got to an unbeaten 76 (79b, 7x4, 4x6) and is involved in an unbroken 91-run third-wicket partnership with Nishant Kushwah (22 batting).
The scores:
Tamil Nadu - 1st innings: R. Vimal Khumar b Yuvraj 0, N. Jagadeesan (not out) 245, B. Sachin St Upendra b Akash 33, B. Indrajith c Upendra b Akash 18, Vijay Shankar lbw Karn 4, M. Boopathi Vaishna Kumar c Upendra b Saif 67, S. Mohamed Ali c Pratham b Akash 5, R. Sai Kishore lbw Karn 59, M. Mohammed c Saif b Yuvraj 20, S. Ajith Ram b Chaudhary 17, Sandeep Warrier lbw Saif 1; Extras (b-13, lb-5, w-1, nb-1): 20; Total (in 144 overs): 489.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-84, 3-125, 4-130, 5-272, 6-298, 7-382, 8-429, 9-474, 10-489.
Railways bowling: Yuvraj 21-2-73-2, Kunal 23-4-97-0, Akash 46-13-102-3, Shivam Chaudhary 17-5-57-1, Karn 25-1-107-2, Mohammad Saif 10-1-28-2, Pratham 1-0-2-0, Nishant Kushwah 1-0-5-0.
Railways - 1st innings: Shivam Chaudhary b Warrier 16, Vivek Singh b Warrier 11, Pratham Singh (batting) 76, Nishant Kushwah (batting) 22; Extras (nb-1): 1; Total (in 35 overs): 126/2.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-35.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Warrier 9-3-35-2, Sai Kishore 11-2-35-0, M. Mohammed 3-1-12-0, Ajith Ram 6-2-15-0, S. Mohamed Ali 6-1-29-0.
