Tamil Nadu 296/2 against Uttar Pradesh in Ranji semis

Nagpur, Jan 4 (IANS) Abhinav Mukund and Murali Vijay took Tamil Nadu to a strong position on the first day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Uttar Pradesh here Sunday.

Mukund, with a strokeful 100, and Vijay (69) helped Tamil Nadu finish the day at 296 for two. They raised 167 runs for the opening stand to lay the foundation of a big first innings score.

Sumbarmaniam Badrinath (59) and Dinesh Karthik (58) saw to it that their effort does not go waste with an unbroken 114-run stand.

Mukund scored his fourth century of the season that came in 175 balls with 16 fours.

The openers batted fluently on the flat track with Uttar Pradesh bowlers failing to trouble them.

They were aggressive and rotated the strike efficiently. Mukund reached his half-century off 79 balls with 10 boundaries.

Parvinder Singh got the breakthrough when Vijay top-edged a delivery to mid-off. His 151-ball knock had eight fours. Mukund fell to Bhuvneshwar Kumar soon after completing his century.

Badrinath and Karthik kept the pressure on Uttar Pradesh bowlers and saw to it that there were no more casualties for the day.