Ranji Trophy: Mumbai v Tamil Nadu: Skipper Tare cherishes 'special' ton

Aditya Tare acknowledges the cheers on reaching his hundred in Chennai yesterday. Pic /PTI

Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare led from the front to carve out a brilliant 154 which steered his team to a commanding 488 in the first innings of their Group B Ranji Trophy game against Tamil Nadu in Chennai in Sunday.

Resuming on his overnight score of 69, Tare put on 123 runs for eighth wicket with Shashank Attarde (58). Tare hit 19 fours and two sixes during his 253-ball knock.

In reply, Tamil Nadu were 66 for no loss with experienced opener Abhinav Mukund batting on 52.

"I scored centuries in two Ranji Trophy semi-finals when we won in 2012-13 and 2015-16. Both those hundreds were special. This one too is special - away from home and against very good opposition. Given the situation of the team and my current form, it was a special knock," Tare told mid-day over the phone from Chennai.

The Tamil Nadu bowlers toiled for five sessions before wrapping up the Mumbai innings with ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3-121) and left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (4-125) sending down 47 and 46 overs respectively.

"When you are not doing well and get a big hundred, it brings back all the confidence. For me, coming back from two defeats and 129 for five here, was more important. I'm glad that Shams [Mulani], Shashank, Tushar [Deshpande] and myself contributed well," Tare added.

The Mumbai lower-order continued to make things difficult for the home side bowlers with Tushar Deshpande (39) smashing Ashwin for three huge sixes while No.11 Royston Dias too joined the fun, hoisting B Aparajith for a big one over long-on.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates