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Skipper Sharath hauls TN out of the woods

You don't generally associate pace with Kerala -- but pace, in the form of debutant Ranjit Menon, was what rocked Tamil Nadu back on its heels on day one of the Ranji Trophy encounter at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

It took an innings of patience and concentration by skipper Sridharan Sharath -- batting 91 at the end of day one -- to repair the damage after Menon had creamed away the top order.

The wicket showed encouraging signs of green, and Kerala skipper Ananthapadmanabhan had no hesitation asking TN to bat first, after he had won the toss.

Menon, the 22-year-old debutant, seemed to justify his skipper's decision when he took out opener Aashish Kapoor, and left-handed number three Hemang Badani, early to set it up for Kerala, having at that stage reduced TN to 17 for two. However, the visiting side failed to build on those early inroads, thanks to support bowling from the largely spin-based attack that was steady without being penetrative.

Opener Anand George flowered against spin after a quiet and, at times uncertain, start against pace to begin the process of recovery with a fine 57 before left arm spinner Sreekumar Nair drew him down the track to beat the blade and have him stumped. By then, however, George had put on a fighting 95 with his skipper.

Menon, who got lift and pace off the MAC track, struck again when he got Madanagopal in front with a breakback. S V Saravanan then joined his captain in a 31-run fifth wicket partnership, then threw it away with a loose shot off Ramprakash. Reuben Paul then took up the slack and, at close, the pair had added 71 for the sixth wicket.

Sharath's innings was the highlight of the day -- determined, disciplined, he concentrated on the task of batting his side out of the whole, 10 flowing boundaries interspersing his vigil at the crease.

Sharath and Paul will concentrate on batting TN to a commanding total. For Kerala skipper Ananthapadmanabhan, the main hope on day two will be to have Renjith Menon, in good form thus far, get some help out of the early morning conditions and knock the TN batsmen back in quick time.

Scorecard: Tamil Nadu - 1st innings: Anand George st Kamaruddin b Sreekumar Nair 57, Aashish Kapoor b Renjith Menon 8, Hemang K. Badani b Renjith Menon 0, S. Sharath (batting) 91, J.R. Madanagopal lbw b Renjith Menon 7, S. Vasanth Saravanan c Kamaruddin b Ramprakash 13, Reuben Paul (batting) 28. Extras 21. Total (for 5 wickets) 225 in 90 overs.

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-17, 3-112, 4- 123, 5-154.

Kerala bowling: Sunil Oasis 12-5-19-0, Renjith Menon 21-9-44-3, Ananthapadmanabhan 18-7-41-0, Ramprakash 13-2-35-1, Sreekumar Nair 22-3-50-1, Chandrasekhara 4-0-20-0.