Cold Play at Kotla: Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy cricketers weather Delhi winter – in monkey caps
BAGGY GREEN for the Aussies, maroon sun hat for the West Indians — cricketers wear their headgear with pride, as badges of honour. Though, sometimes, like on Tuesday at the freezing Feroz Shah Kotla, the reasons were more practical.
With the minimum temperature dropping to 5.6 degrees Celsius, and the national capital getting officially colder than Dehradun, Dharamshala and Nainital, the stadium witnessed a rare sight: cricketers from Tamil Nadu sporting monkey caps in the field, apart from several layers of clothing, for their third-round away Ranji Trophy game against hosts Delhi.
From the time the visiting team landed in the capital, the focus has not just been on the opposition. They arrived here with an eye on the chill and were well-equipped to tackle it, especially given that the winter temperatures back in Chennai don’t go below the mid-twenties, even at night.
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Kerala were in complete control against Jharkhand at the end of day two of their Ranji Trophy game against Chhattisgarh at St Xavier's College Ground in Thumba. Thanks to half-centuries by Rohan Prem and Sachin Baby, who both scored 77 each, and Sanju Samson's 46, they put up 311 on the board, taking a first-innings lead of 162 runs. They reduced Chhattisgarh to 10/2 in the second innings and with 152 runs still behind, it will take some resolute batting by the visitors on the third day to avoid an innings defeat.
Brief scores: Chhattisgarh 149 & 10/2 trail Kerala 311 (Rohan Prem 77, Sachin Baby 77, Sanju Samson 46; Sumit Ruikar 3/37) by 152 runs.
Stumps Day 2: J & K - 75/3 in 27.6 overs (Fazil Rashid 1 off 14, Shubham Khajuria 39 off 83) vs Vidharba
Stumps Day 2: Baroda - 221/6 in 77.6 overs (N A Rathva 93 off 161, Mahesh Pithiya 16 off 55) vs Uttar Pradesh
Stumps Day 2: Arunachal Pradesh - 20/0 in 8.6 overs (Anup Ahlawat 14 off 34, Kumar Nyompu 6 off 20) vs Manipur
Stumps Day 2: Saurashtra - 120/6 in 31.6 overs (Prerak Mankad 25 off 39, D A Jadeja 24 off 55) vs Mumbai
Stumps Day 2: Assam - 182/6 in 38.6 overs (Akash Sengupta 4 off 25, Sarupam Purkayastha 22 off 43) vs Hyderabad
Stumps Day 2: Gujarat - 249/3 in 60.6 overs (P K Panchal 87 off 146, Het 37 off 30) vs Chandigarh
Stumps Day 2: Goa - 45/1 in 22.6 overs (Sumiran Amonkar 30 off 77, Suyash S Prabhudessai 6 off 38) vs Karnataka
Stumps Day 2: Madhya Pradesh - 243/9 in 83.4 overs (Saransh Jain 32 off 89, Avesh Khan 0 off 7) vs Railways
Stumps Day 2: Tripura - 17/0 in 6.6 overs (Bikram Kumar Das 7 off 20, B B Ghosh 10 off 22) vs Punjab
Stumps Day 2: Jharkhand - 228/4 in 62.6 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 13 off 16, Kumar Suraj 75 off 154) vs Services
Stumps Day 2: Chhattisgarh - 10/2 in 5.6 overs (Amandeep Khare 7 off 20, Harpreet Singh Bhatia 3 off 11) vs Kerala
Stumps Day 2: Maharashtra - 89/1 in 26.6 overs (S S Bachhav 15 off 48, R D Gaikwad 51 off 79) vs Andhra Pradesh
Stumps Day 2: Tamil Nadu - 214/5 in 53.6 overs (Pradosh Ranjan Paul 3 off 24, Vijay Shankar 17 off 25) vs Delhi
Stumps Day 2: Himachal Pradesh - 277/4 in 75.6 overs (R R Dhawan 32 off 74, A P Vashisht 73 off 116) vs Uttarakhand
Tamil Nadu is 214 for 5 on Day 2. They are trailing by 89 runs. Vijay Shankar (17*) and Pradosh Ranjan Paul (3*) are at the crease.
At stumps. Saurashtra lower order has toiled Mumbai bowlers. Saurashtra 120/6. Dharmendra Jadeja batting on 24 while Prerak Mankad on 25. 43 runs partnership for seventh wicket
Harshit Rana is on ? The short pitch stuff has worked again. This time he gets the wicket of Tamil Nadu skipper Baba Indrajith. He departs for 71. (TN - 201/5)
Harshit Rana gets the wicket of Washington Sundar. A brilliant catch behind the stumps by Anuj Rawat. Sundar departs for 2. (TN - 183/4)
Baba Indrajith hits his first fifty of the season. Tamil Nadu are 171 for 3. Visitors are still trailing by 132 runs.
M B Mura Singh scalps 5 wickets (24.2-10-48-5), Punjab are all out at 203.
Sheldon Jackson gone. Saurashtra 45/4.
Soft dismissal. A nothing shot from Baba Aparajith. He departs for 57. Harshit Rana gets his first wicket. (TN - 162/3)
Shams Mulani strikes for Mumbai as Yashasvi Jaiswal takes a low catch at silly point of Chirag Jani. Saurashtra 44/3
Baba Aparajith brings his half-century with a boundary. Tamil Nadu are 156 for 2 at the end of 37 overs.
Eagle is on a hunt at the MCA-BKC ground. Match halted for few mins as rat ran on the field to save his life.
Tushar Deshpande strikes his second wicket. Saurashtra opener Jay Gohil trapped in front for his 15 runs. Saurashtra 30/2.
JHA vs SER: Kumar Suraj hits 50 runs in 105 balls, Scores- Jharkhand 149/1
Tamil Nadu’s session. Baba brothers are holding the fort for Tamil Nadu at Kotla. Tamil Nadu are 135/2.
At Tea. Saurashtra are 21/1 ve Mumbai. Chirag Jani batting on 15 while Jay Gohil batting on 6.
VID vs JK: 5-wicket haul for Umar Nazir. (Vidarbha 268/9)
Tushar Despande gets Saurashtra opener Harvik Desai in first over. Saurashtra 1/1 in second innings.
Rajat Patidar scores 50 runs in 89 balls! Madhya Pradesh have put 182 wickets on board, 3 wickets down.
On a turning track Saurashtra spinners have controlled Mumbai batting line up. Left arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja and Yuvraj Dodiya took four wickets each.
Mumbai all out for 230. Saurashtra takes first 59 runs innings lead. Sarfaraz Khan had no choice other than to go after bowlers. Khan made 75.
Dharmendrasinh Jadeja strikes for Saurashtra. Tushar Deshpande gone lbw off Jadeja. Mumbai 227/9.
AP vs MAH: Karan Shinde brings up his 50 in 142 balls. Andhra reach 201, 7 wickets down.
The Khan brothers had 47 runs stand for the fifth wicket.
Musheer Khan is gone while trying to sweep to Dharmendra Jadeja and missed the line. Umpire had no hesitation in raising his finger. Mumbai 206/5. Musheer gone on 12
Saurashtra has been appealing hard for caught behind but umpire felt there is no edge. Umpires had calm down fielders for excessive appealing. Mumbai 203/4.
Massive wicket for Delhi. Pranshu removes Jagadeesan for 34. (TN - 34/2)
Sarfaraz Khan plays late cut for four to reach his fifty. It came in 92 balls had six fours and one six. Mumbai 191/4
Tamil Nadu are 40 for 1 at Lunch on Day 2. They are trailing by 263 runs. Jagadeesan (15*) and Baba Aparajith (0*) are at the crease.
Musheer on strike and his elder brother Sarfaraz Khan cheers his younger brother when he faced first ball.
Sai Sudharsan must be kicking himself, he departs after scoring a fluent 25. Left-arm seamer Kuldip Yadav with the wicket. (TN - 39/1)
Surya Kumar Yadav departs at 95. He sweeps but found men in deep.
Delhi bowled out for 303. Crist removed Harshit Rana to end Delhi’s innings.
Ashwin Crist ends the enterprising knock of Pranshu Vijayran. The Delhi all-rounder has scored a free flowing 58 with the help of five boundaries and three sixes. (Delhi - 294/9)
Maiden first-class fifty for Pranshu Vijayaran. What an entertaining knock from the Delhi all-rounder. He is batting at 56 and has put on a valuable 50-run stand for the ninth wicket with Harshit Rana. (Delhi - 291/8)
TN has added 69 runs in the first hour. They have lost two wickets. But some weird tactic by TN skipper to give the ball to spinners. Sai Kishore and Washington Sundar have been taken to cleaners by Pranshu Vijayran. Sai Kishore has conceded 32 runs in 4 overs. (Delhi - 281/6)
Manish Pandey hits 53 runs off 62 balls. (Karnataka 357/4)
India’s new T20 vice captain Surya Kumar Yadav completes his 50. His innings had one six and seven fours. Mumbai 81/3
Ajinkya Rahane departs for 24. Mumbai captain trapped by Dharmendra Jadeja.
KER vs CHH: Rohan Prem brings up his half century in 102 balls.
MEG vs BIH: R R Biswa smashes a quick 50 off 42 balls, helps Meghalaya put 77 on board.
Anukul Roy takes 5 wickets. Services have put 366 runs on board at a loss of 9 wickets.
Catching practice at first slip. Baba Indrajith grabs an good low catch. Vikas Mishra departs for 4. Vignesh gets his fourth now. (Delhi - 237/8)
Brilliant catch by Vijay Shankar at gully to end Lalit Yadav’s cameo. Warrier gets his fourth. New ball has done the trick for TN. Yadav departs for 40. (Delhi - 232/7)
ODI vs HAR: Suryakant Pradhan picks up 6 wickets, Haryana are 337, 9 wickets lost.
Vignesh is sporting the sporting monkey cap on Day 2 as well. “I’ve experienced cold weather before, but today was totally different because there was this chill breeze that was blowing across. I’ve played before at Dharamsala, but it was manageable. But here, it was just too much to handle. (By wearing a monkey cap) I knew that I would be giving content to meme makers, and even some of the guys (teammates) were pulling my leg. But I was like, I need this because I couldn’t manage,” Vignesh told The Indian Express.
No fogg, no smoke. Bright and sunny at Kotla. Delhi banking on Lalit Yadav to add get the total close to 300. On the other hand, Vignesh and Warrier would be looking to wrap things up. (Delhi - 222/6)