Ranji Trophy: Baba Aparajith scores 56 as Tamil Nadu reach 225/5 on Day 1

Indore, Oct 8: Tamil Nadu made a decent start reaching 225 for five in their first innings against hosts Madhya Pradesh at stumps on the opening day of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, here today.

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Sent into bat, Tamil Nadu did not have the best of starts as they lost opener K Bharath Shankar (1) early. Tamil Nadu skipper Abhinav Mukund (24) and Baba Aparajith (56) then added 63 tuns for the second wicket before the former departed, caught and bowled by medium pacer Udit Birla (2/16).

Aparajith scored his runs off 133 balls with the help of six fours but he could not prolong his stay, nicking one to Naman Ojha behind the stumps of the bowling of Ishwar Pandey (2/57) at the team score of 100 in 44.1 overs.

Senior batsman and wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik (29) followed suit four overs later, handing Pandey his second scalp of the day. Aparajith's brother Baba Indrajith too got a start, scoring 47 runs off 103 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six before becoming Birla's second victim of the day, caught by Ojha.

At stumps, Ramaswamy Prasanna was unbeaten on 51 which came off 118 balls and J Kousik on 14. For Madhya Pradesh, Pandey and and Birla shared four wickets between them while Puneet Datey (1/33) accounted for the other Tamil Nadu batsman.

Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu: 225 for five in 89 overs (Baba Aparajith 56, Ramaswamy Prasanna 51 not out; Udit Birla 2/16).

PTI