Bhatia keeps TN at bay with a brilliant century
The Hindu
The skipper takes Chhattisgarh to a fighting 261 for eight at stumps on day three
Harpreet Singh Bhatia led from the front for Chhattisgarh with a masterful unbeaten 149 (322b, 12x4, 2x6) denting Tamil Nadu’s quest for an outright win by taking his side to 261 for eight at stumps on day three of the Ranji Trophy clash here at the Nehru Stadium on Saturday.
For the third day in succession, the play could not be started on time and, on Saturday, the first session had to be skipped due to wet outfield following overnight showers.
TN, which had posted 470, struck early when Sai Kishore removed overnight batter Shashank Singh caught at silly point to reduce Chhattisgarh to 118 for six. After losing a session in the morning, TN needed to get things done quickly to press for a victory.
But at the other end, Bhatia, along with Ajay Mandal, batted sensibly adding 83 runs for the seventh wicket.
After getting to his half-century, Bhatia started to accelerate with fine sweeps to the fence off the spinners before picking two sixes down the ground. He got to his hundred in style with a straight hit down the ground against Aparajith for a boundary.
Speaking after the match, Bhatia said, “As a captain, there is an added responsibility and I am happy I could do it for the team. There was some sharp turn and the ball was keeping low. So I just looked to play straight and even while playing on the backfoot, preferred to punch through the off-side than cut.”
TN had a chance when Aparajith removed Mandal caught behind and Sai Kishore dismissed Mohammed Hussain just before tea to have the opponents at 208 for eight.