Ashwin, Mohammed peg Tamil Nadu back

Dindigul, Nov. 2: Rajat Patidar missed out on a well-deserved double century by four runs, but helped Madhya Pradesh make 393 against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘B’ Match here on Friday.

Test spinner R Ashwin and paceman M Mohammed finished with four wickets each to help TN restrict Madhya Pradesh from posting a huge total. The home team was zero for no loss in two overs at stumps on day two. Resuming at the overnight score of 214 for 3, Patidar forged another useful partnership with Shubham Sharma (43) to put the team in a strong position. However, things went awry after the exit of Sharma as they slid from 317 for 4 to 393 all out.

Shubham Sharma was snapped up by wicketkeeper N. Jagadeesan off Rahil Shah’s bowling following which Patidar and Yash Dubey (6) added 42 runs. Patidar defied the Tamil Nadu bowlers like he did on Thursday.

He slammed 17 fours and a six in his 406-ball knock. He fell caught behind off Mohammed’s bowling. Mohammed and Ashwin took over after the exit of Patidar to engineer a collapse.

Ashwin snapped the last three wickets to fall (Avesh Khan, Ishwar Pandey and Kuldeep Sen) to finish with 4 for 85 from 38.4 overs. Mohammed ended with 4 for 98.

MUMBAI ARE IN DRIVER’S SEAT

Allrounder Shivam Dubey’s smashing hundred complemented by pacer Tushar Deshpande’s late evening burst saw Mumbai gain upperhand against Railways on the second day of a Group ‘A’ encounter.