: A disciplined bowling effort

: A disciplined bowling effort

helped Himachal Pradesh bowl out Tamil Nadu for 227 in 78.4 overs on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match here Saturday.

In reply, the host lost the wicket of captain Prashant Chopra (5) to end the day at 25 for 1.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, Tamil Nadu was in trouble early, losing both the openers - N Jagadeesan (3) Abhinav Mukund for a duck.

While Arpit Guleria struck the first blow for HP, trapping Jagadeesan leg-before wicket, Pankaj Jaiswal had the consistent Mukund caught behind by Ankush Bains.

This brought together Baba Aparajith and his twin brother, Indrajith, the captain. The duo was involved in a 62-run partnership as the visitors recovered from the early jolts.

 

Indrajith (30), who has been in good touch and leads the run-scoring chart, was bowled by medium-pacer Raghav Dhawan for 30.

Aparajith became Jaiswal's second victim, giving a catch to Amit Kumar for a well-made 53. He played some attractive shots during his knock.

The experienced Dinesh Karthik (31) was dismissed by Guleria when he looked good for more.

Vijay Shankar was sent back at the same (130), caught by Mayank Dagar for 6 to leave Tamil Nadu six down.

With Tamil Nadu in danger of being bowled out for a below par score, Abhishek Tamwar, brought into the side in place of K Vignesh, made a valuable contribution of 44 (5X4) to help the team get past the 200-mark.

Chopra ended Tanwar's defiant knock, trapping him leg before wicket and two balls later ended the TN innings, having T Natarajan caught and bowled for a duck.

Jaiswal was the most successful bowler for HP with 3 for 45, while Guleria, Raghav Dhawan and Chopra took two wickets each.

In reply, the home team lost the wicket of Chopra (5), caught by Vijay Shankar of M Mohammed.

Raghav Dhawan (3) and Gurvinder Singh (8) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 225 all out in 78.4 overs (B Aparajith 53, Abhishek Tanwar 44, Dinesh Karthik 31, Pankaj Jaiswal 3 for 45) vs HP 25 for 1 in 5 overs.

At Visakhapatnam: Bengal 194 for 6 in 78 overs (Manoj Tiwary 90, Agniv Pan 39) vs Andhra.

At Hyderabad: Hyderabad 240 for 7 in 90 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 60, Akshat Reddy 77, Himalay Agarwal 51 batting, Mayank Markande 3 for 65) vs Punjab.