Abhinav Mukund struck a fine unbeaten century as Tamil Nadu were sitting pretty at 268 for two on the opening day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra here today.
At close of play at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Mukund was batting on 103 having faced 230 balls and hit 10 boundaries. Giving the 23-year-old company was Baba Aparajith on 40 off 66 balls. Aparajith hit two two fours and as many sixes.
Murali Vijay (62) and Subramaniam Badrinath (56) were the other contributors for the hosts who are looking to bag full points. Vijay had useful batting practice ahead of the Indian team's tour of South Africa.
Vijay smashed nine fours and two sixes during his 93- ball knock, while Badrinath found the fence nine times and cleared it once. Tamil Nadu scored at a healthy pace considering that the day ended with 10 more overs still to be bowled, due to bad light.
Sent into bat, Tamil Nadu were off to a solid start with openers Mukund and Vijay sharing 97 runs for the first wicket. Vijay was the first to get out as he was stumped by Sagar Jogiyani off the bowling of Chirag Jani.
It was followed by another 93-run stand for the second wicket between Mukund and Badrinath before the latter was dismissed by Aarpit Vasavada.
There was no success for Saurashtra after that as the duo of Mukund and Aparajith was associated in an unbroken 78 runs for the third wicket, enabling the hosts to take honours on the first day. Jani and Vasavada were the wicket-takers for the visiting side.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 268/2 in 80 overs (Mukund not out 103, Vijay 62, Badrinath 56, Aparijith not out 40).u00a0
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