Bangar hits unbeatean 111 as hosts end Day One of the Ranji opener against TN at 242/4

The arrival of Krishnamachari Srikkanth among those watching the action at the Karnail Singh stadium on Tuesday appeared to bring a stroke of luck to the Tamil Nadu Ranji side. The chairman of the selection committee walked in at a time when Railways were well-placed at 135 for one, but as soon as he entered, off-spinner R Ashwin struck with two wickets in the space of four deliveries to bring Tamil Nadu back into the mix on Day One of the Elite division match.

One of those victims was Faiz Fazal, who looked set for a big one after having completed his maiden half-century in his first Ranji match for Railways. He was stumped, and in the same over, Ashwin got another wicket — this time TP Singh giving a catch to Murali Vijay.

Before this stutter, both Fazal and Sanjay Bangar had worked their way up to an 80-run partnership for the second wicket. While the former wasted his chance, Bangar went on to complete his 10th century, going past 7,000 first-class cricket runs in the process. At stumps, Railways had scored 242 for the loss of 4 wickets, with Sanjib Sanyal giving company to Bangar, who was unbeaten on 111. Bangar’s innings included two sixes and 11 hits to the fence.

Bangar walked in to bat after V Cheluvaraj had thrown his wicket away to the part-time spin of Abhinav Mukund. He began finding the boundaries while also rotating the strike with Fazal, who was well set by then. The former skipper then saw off the difficult period in the middle with another important partnership of 76 with Yere Goud.

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