TN gain vital lead in first innings

At stumps on the third day, Tamil Nadu were 348 for nine in reply to Bengal’s 337 with three points assured from the match if last day does not produce sensational collapses from either side. Once again, Tamil Nadu were well served by wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik, who hit 80 and Kaushik Gandhi who made a well-compiled 65. Gandhi and captain Abhinav Mukund had added 105 runs for the second wicket to put TN in control but a middle-order slip helped Bengal come back into the match. Aswin Crist contributed 36 but TN were in trouble at 310 for nine before Vignesh and Natarajan gave them the vital first-innings lead.