Karthik slams ton, Nilesh takes 5

CHENNAI: Over medu-vada, idli, upma, coffee and bread omlette, the Mumbai and Tamil Nadu teams looked like long-lost brothers at the breakfast table before the start of play. But once play began, the players of both teams exchanged stares, words (many of them unpleasant) and the works.
Dinesh Karthik blitzed a gutsy unbeaten hundred, but despite his best efforts, Tamil Nadu were still deep in the woods at 269 for nine after winning the toss and batting first on day one of the Ranji Trophy final against defending champions Mumbai at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday.
The hosts were wrecked by a five-wicket haul by left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni whose bowled a tireless spell of 5-82 in 31 overs. It was his 20th five-wicket haul in Ranji Trophy.
The Reliance Energy bowler, who is playing his fourth Ranji final, said he was happy with the way the ball left his hand. ‘‘I showed good rhythm. But it is important that we win now,’’ he said.
Coach Chandrakant Pandit also singled out the bowler for special praise. ‘‘It hasn’t been easy for Nilesh. He had to be left out of the squad especially at home as we have played on some seaming tracks, but he hasn’t complained. With Ramesh Powar and Ajit (Agarkar) not being in the squad he has got his opportunity and has grabbed it with both hands.’’
Pandit also said that he would have been happier had Mumbai bowled out TN inside 225. ‘‘We lost our way in the last session, but I must not take any credit away from Kaarthik. He was superb.’’
Superb he indeed was, remaining unbeaten at stumps on 102 in 120 balls with 16 fours and a six. Chairman of selectors SyedKirmani, who was present at the ground on Friday and who also witnessed the earlier innings, was impressed..
Tamil Nadu 1st innings: S Suresh c Jaffer b Kulkarni 38, S Ramesh c Samant b Patel 1, S Sriram c Jaffer b Kulkarni 51, S Badrinath c Joglekar b Kulkarni 0, HK Badani c Jaffer b Kulkarni 27, S Sharath c Jaffer b Bahutule 29, KKD Karthik batting 102, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan c Jaffer b Bahutule 6, R Ramkumar c Mane b Bahutule 5, C Ganapathy c Joglekar b Kulkarni 1, MR Shrinivas batting 2. Extras: (b 4, lb 2, nb 1) 7. Total:( for 9 wickets, 90 overs) 269.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-74, 3-74, 4-122, 5-123, 6-207, 7-219, 8-227, 9-238.
Bowling: Munaf Patel 17-3-47-1 (1nb), Avishkar Salvi 13-1-52-0, Bhavin Thakkar 3-0-8-0, Nilesh Kulkarni 31-5-82-5, Sairaj Bahutule 26-4-74-3.
Jadhav sustains Maharashtra: At Pune, opener Dhiraj Jadhav hit a brilliant unbeaten century (124) as Maharashtra reached a healthy 285 for three against Madhya Pradesh on the first day of the Ranji trophy Plate championship final.
Brief scores: Maharashtra 285 for 3 (Dhiraj Jadhav batting 124, Hrishikesh Kantikar 55, Kaushik Aphale 49, Dhruv Mohan batting 36, Shantanu Pitre 2/48) vs M.P.