Shankar hits ton as TN call the shots on the second day

Chennai: Baba Indrajith missed out on a well-deserved double hundred, while Vijay Shankar recorded his highest first-class score as Tamil Nadu held the edge over Punjab at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C contest in Salem on Saturday.At the Salem Cricket Foundation Ground, Indrajith (187 off 295 balls, 10x4, 1x6) and Vijay Shankar (130 off 271 balls, 12x4, 1x6) did the bulk of the scoring, steering the hosts to 435 on a good batting surface. Punjab were then restricted to 141-4 at close of play, with skipper Mandeep Singh (18 batting) and Anmol Malhotra (3 batting) unbeaten in the middle.Indrajith and Vijay Shankar began the day on a bright note as they accumulated runs without being troubled by the opposition bowlers. They added 97 runs to their overnight fifth-wicket partnership total of 184, before Vijay Shankar’s stumps were castled by off-spinner Jass Inder Singh (2-77). Prior to being sent back to the pavilion, the in-form Vijay Shankar raised his century and bettered his previous best FC score of 112.“Irrespective of the situations and conditions, a partnership worth 280 is massive. The way we batted, we literally grinded it out in the middle. We wanted to get the team to a decent total, which would give us the chance to bowl them (Punjab) out. Together, we batted really well,” Vijay Shankar, who struck his first ton of the Ranji season, told TOI.On his personal form, Vijay Shankar said: “I have been batting well in the last few matches. It is just that I have managed to get a hundred in only this match. I got a half-century while batting with the tail-enders against Goa. Against Tripura in challenging conditions, I hit an unbeaten fifty. Against Karnataka, I got another half-century. I have been batting well, but I needed this hundred to boost my confidence.” TN lost their way after his dismissal as the visitors bagged the last six wickets for just 47 runs. Indrajith was the last TN batter to be removed, stumped off left-arm spinner Prerit Dutta (1-95). Debutant Sukhwinder Singh (4-99), an offie, was the pick of the Punjab bowlers, scalping four. Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 435 in 131.4 overs (Baba Indrajith 187, Vijay Shankar 130; Sukhwinder Singh 4-99, Jass Inder Singh 2-77, Abhishek Sharma 2-89). Punjab 141-4 in 46 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 41, Nehal Wadhera 43; S Ajith Ram 2-34).Pandey’s ton puts K’taka on top: In the 141 minutes that Manish Pandey (102 batting off 101 balls, 14x4, 3x6) spent at the crease, two different sides of his game came to the fore, reports Manuja Veerappa. For the first 21 deliveries, there were nudges and pushes which ensured rotation of strike with Hardik Raj (49 batting). With the top-three batters back in the dressing room, Pandey’s stroke-filled century was the highlight on Day 2 of Karnataka’s match against Chandigarh in Hubli.Brief scores: Chandigarh 267. Karnataka 268-3 in 63 overs (Manish Pandey 102*, Mayank Agarwal 57, Hardik Raj 49*).