Smit Patel, Yashpal take Tripura to 244 for 7 vs TN

Chennai, Oct 14 (PTI) Smit Patel (99) and Yashpal Singh(96) missed out on centuries, but helped Tripura recover from41 for 3 to reach 244 for 7...
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Chennai, Oct 14 (PTI) Smit Patel (99) and Yashpal Singh(96) missed out on centuries, but helped Tripura recover from41 for 3 to reach 244 for 7 at stumps on the opening day ofthe Ranji Trophy Group "C" match against Tamil Nadu heretoday.

Sent into bat by the home side, Tripura was dealt anearly blow when Bishal Singh nicked the very first ball from KVignesh to wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik. Udiyan Bose, who madea century in the rain-affected opening game against Odisha,fell to L Vignesh for 2 to leave the team at 18 for 2.

R D Banik and Patel added 23 runs before the former wasbowled by Rahil Shah for 17.

This brought together the experienced Yashpal Singh andPatel, the 'professionals' in the side. The duo gained inconfidence gradually and defied the Tamil Nadu attack whichincluded Test all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.

Patel, who was part of the India team that won theUnder-19 World Cup in 2012 and Singh played several attractivestrokes in their 162-run partnership.

The 24-year-old Patel fell while going for a big hit offM S Washington Sundar's bowling and was well caught by JKousik, one short of a well-deserved ton.

Abhijit Dey fell five runs later, trapped leg-before bySundar for a duck.

Yashpal Singh provided Ashwin his first wicket of theinnings when he edged a catch to Dinesh Karthik for 96.

Gurinder Singh fell in the 88th over as Tamil Nadu hitback towards the end of play after a tough second session.

For the host, K Vignesh and Sundar picked up two wicketseach while Ashwin, L Vignesh and Shah got one scalp each.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu made three changes to the side thatplayed Andhra Pradesh in the first game, bringing in DineshKarthik, J Kousik and handing a debut to left-arm spinner RSai Kishore in place of Murali Vijay, B Aparajith and NJagadeesan.

Coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar told reporters at the end ofthe day that Vijay didn't play the game owing to a neck spasmand a decision to leave him out was taken in the morning.

Further, he said Vijay was expected to be ready for thenext game.

He said team had not maintained pressure after strikingearly blows, but gave credit to the Tripura batsmen.

"It is about maintaining the pressure. It is something weneed to look into. It has happened for the second time. Maybewe are losing momentum during the break. Somehow, the focusseems to drift. Have to give credit to the (Tripura) batsmen,they played well," he said.

"They played well. The two players who got runs areplayers who have been around for a while. Also, the wicket isa good wicket, a good pitch to bat on. There are no surprisesin the pitch," Kanitkar said.

The TN coach praised Washington Sundar and said "hebowled really well." Patel, on his part, said more than missing out on acentury he felt it would have been better if he had beenbatting at the end of the day.

"The ball was there was to be hit. I don't regret it(going for the shot and getting out). I think I played reallywell the whole day. It feels bad to get out and get out on 99.

It happens. I will try harder in the next innings," theTripura right-hander said.

Asked if they had prepared specifically for Ashwin, hesaid "personally speaking I didn't give as much thought to thename (Ashwin). I just tried to play the ball on merit.

Brief scores - Group "C": Tripura 244 for 7 in 90 overs(Smit Patel 99, Yashpal Singh 96, K Vignesh 2 for 36, M SWashington Sundar 2 for 40) vs Tamil Nadu.

At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 250 for 5 in 89 overs (NamanOjha 99 batting, Ankit Sharma 63 batting, Wasim Ahmed 40,Akash Parkar 2 for 48) vs Mumbai.

At Vadodara: Baroda 247 for 7 in 90 overs (Kedar Devdhar93, Vishnu Solanki 60, Swapnil K Singh 30 batting, B Ayyappa 3for 46) vs Andhra Pradesh. PTI SS APRAPR.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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