CRICKET / Crist and Kousik share the spoils after Indrajith finishes with 151

NEW DELHI: The Tamil Nadu seamers relish outstation assignments. The spinner-friendly tracks at home reduce their role but away games give them the opportunity to make an impact.
Aswin Crist and J. Kousik gave an excellent exhibition of sustained swing and seam bowling by leaving Railways in tatters at 129 for seven in reply to Tamil Nadu’s first innings score of 328 in the Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy match at the Karnail Singh Stadium here on Saturday.
Resuming at 288 for six, Tamil Nadu added 40 runs this morning with Baba Aparajith, 121 overnight, contributing 30 of them before falling after facing 233 balls. Railways was well served by Anureet Singh who finished with a five-wicket haul while Krishnakant Upadhyay picked up two wickets this morning to restrict the opposition.
Weak front
Railways was rattled early and then towards the closing stages. First by Crist and then Kousik as Railways put up a weak front against the Tamil Nadu seamers.
“The pitch was a gift really,” exclaimed Crist, who took four wickets. “We (seamers) feel happy to see pitches like this.
“There was swing for us even though the bounce was low and the pitch was a bit slow too,” said Crist.
Crist struck three blows in a row — Saurabh Wakaskar, Faiz Ahmed and R. Jonathan — before Arindam Ghosh and V. Cheluvaraj added 104 runs in what was the best phase of the day for the home team.
The short and compact Cheluvaraj gave a decent account of potential by playing the ball on merit in the company of an equally determined Ghosh, who played a waiting game.
Railways slipped from a healthy 124 for three, given the early dents, and lost four wickets for two runs as Tamil Nadu established its dominance through Kousik, who removed Ghosh (48, 133b, 5x4), Ashish Yadav and Anureet Singh after Crist ensured Mahesh Rawat’s dismal run with the bat this season continued. Rawat was taken on the leg-side as he attempted a glance.
“There was pressure because the team has not been doing well. It could have been different with some application. We could have saved 50-60 runs,” said Cheluvaraj, who has batted 158 balls and hit seven fours.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: B. Aparajith b Anureet 3, Abhinav Mukund lbw b Bhima Rao 49, Dinesh Karthik c Ghosh b Mali 27, Vijay Shankar lbw b Anureet 19, B. Indrajith c Upadhyay b Anureet 151, R. Prasanna c Rawat b Ashish 22, J. Kousik c Rawat b Anureet 32, Malolan Rangarajan c Rawat b Upadhyay 12, Aswin Crist c Rawat b Anureet 0, M. Mohammed c Rawat b Upadhyay 6, Rahil Shah (not out) 0; Extras (lb-1, nb-5, w-1): 7; Total (in 111.2 overs): 328.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-67, 3-95, 4-101, 5-180, 6-258, 7-300, 8-303, 9-328.
Railways bowling: Anureet Singh 43.2-8-104-5, Krishnakant Upadhyay 31-6-93-2, Ranjeet Mali 19-4-57-1, Bhima Rao 11-1-47-1, Ashish Yadav 7-2-26-1.
Railways — 1st innings: Saurabh Wakaskar b Crist 11, V. Cheluvaraj (batting) 63, Faiz Ahmed c Kousik b Crist 0, R. Jonathan c Karthik b Crist 4, Arindam Ghosh c Indrajith b Kousik 48, Mahesh Rawat c Karthik b Crist 1, Ashish Yadav b Kousik 0, Anureet Singh b Kousik 0, Bhima Rao (batting) 0, Extras (lb-1, w-1) 2, Total (for seven wkts. in 59 overs) 129.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-12, 3-20, 4-124, 5-125, 6-126, 7-126.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Crist 14-2-42-4, Mohammed 16-6-22-0, Vijay Shankar 10-2-33-0, Malolan Rangarajan 11-3-19-0, Kousik 6-1-7-3, Abhinav 2-0-5-0.