Shaking his head in disgust and underplaying the standing ovation from his teammates, Yashpal Singh walked back a dejected man after getting out for 98.
The veteran batsman knew his dismissal had dashed whatever slim hopes Services had of reaching Tamil Nadu’s first innings total of 456. But he ensured that the visitors would have to bat again.
Suraj Yadav’s smashing 56 delayed the inevitable as Services’ innings was finally wrapped up for 346 in its first essay, giving Tamil Nadu three points.
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Services, resuming on 245 for five, lost Sarabjit off the seventh ball of the day when L. Balaji knocked down his stumps. Yashpal, going for a big shot, stepped out but only managed to nick an edge to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. At 269 for seven, it all but ended Services’ fightback.
The scores: Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 456 for seven decl.
Services — 1st innings: Pratik Desai c Sam b Crist 19, Soumik Chatterjee c Crist b Abhinav 47, Anshul Gupta st Karthik b Malolan 37, Vishnu Tiwari lbw b Malolan 3, Yashpal Singh c Karthik b Crist 98, Rajat Paliwal c Karthik b Aushik 5, Sarabjit Singh b Balaji 13, Suraj Yadav c Aparajith b Balaji 56, Shadab Nazar b Aushik 17, Azaruddin Bloch (not out) 4, Nishan Singh c Karthik b Balaji 8; Extras (b-7, lb-9, nb-17, w-1, penalty-5): 39; Total (in 128.5 overs): 346.
Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-94, 3-98, 4-159, 5-191, 6-245, 7-269, 8-307, 9-338.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Sunil Sam 24-6-71-0, Lakshmipathy Balaji 20.5-4-56-3, Malolan Rangarajan 21-8-68-2, Aswin Crist 19-4-62-2, Aushik Srinivas 36-22-50-2, Baba Aparajith 5-0-15-0, Abhinav Mukund 3-1-3-1.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: Abhinav Mukund run out 33, Murali Vijay c Yashpal Singh b Nishan 4, Subramaniam Badrinath b Nazar 29, Baba Aparajith c Sarabjit Singh b Gupta 16, Dinesh Karthik c & b Desai 20, R. Prasanna (not out) 10, Malolan Rangarajan (not out) 1; Extras (b-2, lb-1, nb-1): 4; Total (for five wickets in 42.1 overs): 117.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-52, 3-80, 4-88, 5-116.
Services bowling: Suraj Yadav 6-1-16-0, Nishan Singh 6-1-19-1, Shadab Nazar 6-3-9-1, Azaruddin Bloch 8-0-24-0, Anshul Gupta 9.1-1-25-1, Pratik Desai 7-1-21-1.