Pradosh's double ton puts TN on top

CHENNAI: Pradosh Ranjan Paul's 242-ball 229 was the highlight on Day 2 of the Tamil Nadu-Odisha U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy clash in Theni on Tuesday. Continuing from their overnight total of 332 for 1, Pradosh lost skipper Aditya Barooah in the very first over of the day - caught by Binit Mohanty off Shekhar Majhi. Adhithya Raghuraman (5) and Abishiek Selvakumar (27) too didn't make much impact, but Pradosh took it upon himself to lead the charge.While Adhithya was run out before his innings could take flight, Abishiek was caught by Sourav Gouda off Palai's bowling.
However, the day belonged to Pradosh. The left-hander's innings was all about timing and placements. He found the gaps with ease and took the attack to the opposition at every given opportunity. Pradosh's essay contained 28 hits to the fence and 2 shots sailing past the ropes. This was Paul's third century in the competition, and he has so far scored 796 runs in six matches.
In the company of R Sonu Yadav (69, 9x4, 1x6), Pradosh put his best foot forward - adding 179 runs for the fifth wicket in 22.4 overs - to help Tamil Nadu pile on a score of 600-4 in 136 overs before they declared the innings. For the visitors, Majhi (1 for 48), Krishna Palai (1 for 189) and Sisir Behera (1 for 80) were among the wickets.
In reply, Odisha were placed at 131 for 2 from 44 overs. Skipper Raghunath Malla was batting on 59 and Jyoti Behera was giving him company on 24.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 600-4 declared 136 overs (Aditya Barooah 176, Nidhish 89, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 229 n.o., Sonu Yadav 69 n.o.) vs Odisha 131-2 in 44 overs (Swastik Samal 36, Jyoti Ranjan Behera 24 batting, Raghunath Malla 59 batting)