Sai Sudarshan (Photo Source: Jio Cinema)
Delhi and Tamil Nadu locked horns in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on October 18. On Day 1 of the match, Delhi won the toss and opted to bowl first. Sai Sudharsan and N Jagadeesan started brilliantly with the bat and posted 168 for the first wicket before Jagadeesan was cleaned up by Navdeep Saini after scoring 65 runs.
But Sudharsan found another partner in Washington Sundar, who was promoted up the order. The duo remained unbeaten as Tamil Nadu posted 379 at the end of Day 1. Meanwhile, Sudharsan notched up his maiden double ton as he scored 202 off 259 balls, laced with 23 boundaries and one maximum. On the other hand, Sundar is inching towards a ton with 96 runs to his name, including 12 boundaries and one maximum.
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Sai Sudharsan brings up his 2⃣0⃣0⃣ 👏
A fantastic innings so far, laced with 2⃣3⃣ fours & 1⃣ six 👌👌 #RanjiTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/NyF4apNoHU pic.twitter.com/XHbiOB33Mr
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) October 18, 2024
Before the double ton, Sudharsan had five first-class hundreds to his name and one score over 150. He reached his double century at a strike rate of 77.99 and forged an unbeaten 211-run stand with Sundar. He became the fourth Tamil Nadu batter to score a double-ton in the Ranji Trophy since 2015. The other three are Abhinav Mukund, Kaushik Gandhi, and Jagadeesan. It is worth noting that Jagadeesan has one triple ton to his name.
A hint of grass on the pitch led the Delhi captain Himmat Singh to invite Tamil Nadu to bat first. Though Himanshu Chauhan and Saini found the ball moving early on, the Tamil Nadu openers braved the testing phase and piled up runs. Moreover, Sudharsan was given lives on two occasions when he was on 143, and he also had a no-ball saving his day on 77.