On an unusually pleasant day, the Tamil Nadu batsm-en made the most of the favourable conditions to finish day one of their Group A clash with Karnataka on a highly satisfactory note, reaching 289 for five.

S Badrinath did himself and his team a huge favour by winning the toss in the morning, and showing little hesitation in opting to bat first on a pitch with plenty of runs in it. While S Anirudha and to an extent M Vijay failed to capitalise, debutant Abhinav Mukund and the skipper himself were in no mood to let the chance go abegging.
Anirudha squared up to a length ball from paceman R Vinay Kumar to be dismissed leg-before for a second-ball duck. His partner Vijay and the free-stroking Abhinav calmed the nerves in the Tamil Nadu camp, stitching 67 for the second wicket before the former flailed his bat at a widish delivery from pacer NC Aiyappa and managed a thick edge to stumper Thilak Naidu.    

Ordeal begins
The ordeal, however, was just beginning for the Karnataka bowlers, who were systematically driven to despair by the left-right combination of Abhinav and Badrinath. While there is little doubt about the abilities of Badrinath, it was the class of 18-year-old Abhinav that left everyone in awe. Right from the first ball -- which he cut to the third man fence – till he got out after making a delightful century, the southpaw showed little signs of a player making his first-class debut. He was at equal ease against both pace and spin, and collected most of his runs through drives and cuts.     
  
Admittedly, there was little help for the bowlers even so, no praise is too high for quality of batsmanship the youngster exhibited. A left-hander in the classical mould, Abhinav stroked to his way to a well-made 108 (176b, 13x4) before getting run out in a mix-up with Badrinath. But by then, he had provided Tamil Nadu the much-needed platform, the 139-run (239b) association between him and Badrinath for the third wicket firmly placing the hosts in the saddle.
Badrinath's unbeaten knock was no less significant in the context of the game. The right-hander, quick to realise that his junior partner was in fine fettle, played second fiddle, giving most of the strike to Abhinav. While the two collected a big chunk of their runs through boundaries, they ran hard between the wickets, converting singles into twos and twos into threes, and forcing the rival fielders to concede overthrows on a couple of occasions. Having guided Abhinav to the three-figure mark, Badrinath has now set himself up for another first-class century, finishing the day on 93 (263m, 212b, 7x4, 2x6).

Unhelpful pitch
Karnataka’s bowlers toiled hard on an unresponsive track without much success. Aiyappa in particular was impressive, cranking up considerable speed and beating the bat on several occasions. That he was the most successful bowler for the visitors (2/52) was nothing more than he deserved. Vinay started on a bright note but couldn't repeat the magic. The spinners looked largely unimpressive, with only veteran Sunil Joshi troubling the batsmen occasionally and coming up with a wicket as well.

With still five wickets in hand and their best batsman at the crease, Tamil Nadu will look to consolidate further on the morrow.