Ranji Trophy: Suryapprakash shines but Tamil Nadu struggle against Uttar Pradesh

CHENNAI: The Uttar Pradesh bowlers enjoyed the ascendancy on Day 2 of their Ranji Trophy clash against Tamil Nadu at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur on Saturday. After no play was possible on the opening day due to a wet outfield, the second day too was curtailed due to a combination of fog and bad light with only 56 overs being bowled.
On a pitch that was two-paced, Uttar Pradesh chose to insert Tamil Nadu in and restricted them to 165 for 6 at the end of the day.For the hosts, skipper Ankit Rajpoot and Saurabh Kumar were the pick of the bowlers. While pacer Rajpoot claimed two wickets, left-arm spinner Saurabh inflicted three crucial blows. Opener L Suryapprakash showed some resistance for TN with a battling half-century.
TN had actually got off to a good start with openers Ganga Sridhar Raju and Suryapprakash stitching together 79 for the first wicket. The left-handed Ganga Sridhar was the busier of the two players, taking just 88 balls for his 45. Saurabh, though, claimed Ganga Sridhar's wicket on the final ball of the 27th over and changed the course of proceedings. Rajpoot then joined in on the act with the dismissal of M Kaushik Gandhi - who had scored a century in TN's previous match - and vice-captain B Aparajith in quick succession to reduce TN to 102 for 3.
While the fit-again Vijay Shankar showed some urgency and hit five boundaries in his 17-ball 24, he gave 20-year-old leggie Zeeshan Ansari his first wicket in the 43rd over. N Jagadeesan, meanwhile, once again got his eye in and scored 18 off 36 balls before being stumped by Upendra Yadav off Saurabh's bowling. The wicketkeeper-batsman has got numerous starts this season without managing to convert them into substantial contributions.
All this while, Suryapprakash went about his innings patiently and did not seem to get flustered by the loss of wickets at the other end. Making his comeback for Tamil Nadu after more than three years out of the side, he took 153 balls to reach his maiden half-century in first-class cricket. But he ended up falling to Saurabh off what turned out to be the second last ball of the day.
"The day did not end well for us after a promising start. But we believe a total of 225-250 will be competitive on this pitch. There is variable bounce and the ball is not quite coming onto the bat," TN assistant coach R Prasanna said at the end of the day's play.
SCOREBOARD:
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): V Ganga Sridhar Raju c Rinku b Saurabh 45, L Suryapprakash c Yadav b Saurabh 51, M Kaushik Gandhi c Yadav b Rajpoor 7, B Aparajith b Rajpoot 0, Vijay Shankar c sub b Ansari 24, N Jagadeesan st Yadav b Saurabh 18, K Mukunth not out 1, R Sai Kishore not out 0; Extras (nb-3, b-1, lb-15): 19; Total (6 wkts; 56 overs): 165; FoW: 1-79, 2-100, 3-102, 4-129, 5-162, 6-165; Bowling: Rajpoot 16-4-50-2, Mavi 11-4-35-0, Saurabh 21-3-39-3, Ansari 8-2-25-1