When Mumbai coach Praveen Amre turned around after having a look at the wicket after close of play on Day One of Mumbai's Ranji Trophy tie against Tamil Nadu, national selector Narendra Hirwani asked him if his wards had missed an opportunity to take advantage of early breakthroughs.

"Kind of," Amre said with a grin. "But both the batsmen batted really well." Even Hirwani nodded in affirmative. The batsmen were S Badrinath and C Ganapathy.

It wasn't surprising to see Badrinath, not give his wicket away after taking guard when TN were 36 for two and ending the day unbeaten on 123.

But what came as a real shock for Mumbai was the manner in which Ganapathy applied himself during his unbeaten 201-run partnership with Badrinath. Coming in to bat at 50-5, the 28-year-old played second fiddle to Badri and returned to the pavilion for a well-made unbeaten 70, just two runs shy of his career-best.

"I was tempted to play a few shots. But Badri was constantly telling me: 'we don't have to make a single mistake'.

"When you are playing a team like Mumbai, one mistake can cost the team dearly," Ganapathy said. "He was reminding me constantly the importance of this match. We don't want to lose it."