Left-arm spinners S. Ajith Ram (4/68) and R. Sai Kishore (3/67) led Tamil Nadu to the top on Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy in Chennai. Chidambaram Stadium showing its strength against Assam on Thursday.
The two scalped together seven wickets to sack Assam for 266 in the first innings, helping the home side to take a lead of 274 runs in the first innings before a follow-on was enacted.
With a two-step variable jump pitch, Ajith Ram continued to impress by relying on escape and cunning. Sai Kishore, on the other hand, challenged both ends of the stick relentlessly with his variations. In the second inning, Assam starters Rahul Hazarika and Shubham Mandal held back, holding back some spectacular shots and keeping the team safe with a clean 66.
Assam’s overnight batsmen Gokul Sharma and Abhishek Thakuri restarted the day with 120 for four and started aggressively, regularly finding the fence in the first few overs.
Sandeep Warrior scored his first breakthrough for Tamil Nadu, taking charge of Thakuri, where skipper Sai Kishore slipped after a cargo slipped low and broke Gokul’s leg stump.
Assam said he was 200 and he went to lunch with 7, but Sarupam purkayastha (74) frustrated his Nadu, a Tamil half-century after the break.
Against the second new ball, Purkayastha enjoyed the challenge as he completed the half-century by choosing between two boundaries in front of both Kishore and Trilok Nag. . Sai Kishore finally broke the block when he rearranged the stumps of Akash Sengupta and Purkayastha, the last fallen wicket.
After forcing Port home his team’s bowlers were stingy but didn’t create as many chances as they would have liked.
On the final day, Tamil Nadu – still trailing by 208 runs – look to come out with greater intensity to throw Assam quickly in pursuit of a big win.