After delivering a fiery bowling performance against Maharashtra, Abhijit Debbrma kept Tamil Nadu on the backfoot on home turf in the Under-23 Colonel CK Naidu Trophy cricket match held at the Narsinghgarh Police Training Academy ground on Sunday. Primarily due to Abhijit’s relentless bowling, the visiting Tamil Nadu team found themselves in a difficult position at the end of the first day.
Tamil Nadu managed to score 197 runs for the loss of 7 wickets at the end of the first day. If S.R. Sathish hadn’t put up a strong resistance, Tamil Nadu’s innings might have folded up on the first day itself. Sathish scored a half-century. Tripura’s Abhijit Debbarma claimed 5 wickets.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, Tamil Nadu found themselves under pressure from Tripura’s fiery bowlers from the very beginning. After losing their first wicket for just 3 runs, the visiting team’s innings was stabilized by Ajitesh G and S.R. Athish. The duo put up a solid partnership, playing cautiously and both completing their half-centuries.
They added 120 runs for the second wicket off 259 balls. Ajitesh scored 79 off 185 balls with 11 boundaries, while Athish made 50 off 118 balls with 7 boundaries. Once these two were dismissed, the visiting team came under pressure due to Abhijit’s dominance. From 123 for 1, Tamil Nadu lost 6 wickets for 34 runs and found themselves in a precarious position.
P. Vignesh and V.P. Diran then steadied the ship and started to take the team forward. At the end of the first day, this pair remained unbeaten. The duo added 40 runs for the eighth wicket off 143 balls. Vignesh scored 25 off 79 balls with 1 boundary, and Diran was unbeaten on 10 off 70 balls with 1 boundary. Tamil Nadu ended the day on 197/7 in 85 overs.
For Tripura, Abhijit Debbarma took 5 wickets for 55 runs, Sourav Kar took 1 for 36, and Diptanu Chakraborty took 1 for 41. Tripura’s aim on Monday will be to quickly dismiss Tamil Nadu’s remaining three wickets and then bat for a long time.
Notably, Abhijit had claimed 7 wickets in the first innings of the first match of the season against Maharashtra
(Tripura, Northeast)
