Left-arm spinners S. Ajith Ram (4/68) and R. Sai Kishore (3/67) bowled Tamil Nadu right into a place of power in opposition to Assam on day three of the Ranji Trophy conflict in Chennai on the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.
The two scalped seven wickets between them to dismiss Assam for 266 within the first innings and helped the house crew take a 274-run first-innings lead earlier than implementing the follow-on.
On a two-paced pitch with variable bounce, Ajith Ram continued to impress, counting on flight and guile, whereas Sai Kishore was relentless along with his variations, difficult each edges of the bat.
In the second innings, Assam openers Rahul Hazarika and Shubham Mandal held themselves again by eschewing any extravagant photographs and took their facet to security at 66 for no loss.
Resuming the day at 120 for 4, Assam’s in a single day batters Gokul Sharma and Abhishek Thakuri began positively, discovering the fence repeatedly within the first few overs.
Sandeep Warrier earned the primary breakthrough for Tamil Nadu when his supply scooted low and broke Gokul’s leg-stump earlier than skipper Sai Kishore accounted for Thakuri, caught at slip.
Assam went to lunch at 200 for seven, however Sarupam Purkayastha (74) annoyed Tamil Nadu as he made a valiant half-century after the break.
Against the second new ball, Purkayastha loved the problem as he picked two boundaries in a single over off each Sai Kishore and Trilok Nag to get to his half-century.
Sai Kishore ultimately broke the logjam when he rearranged the stumps of Akash Sengupta after which Purkayastha, the final wicket to fall.
After implementing the follow-on, the house crew bowlers had been miserly however didn’t create as many probabilities as they might have appreciated.
On the ultimate day, Tamil Nadu – nonetheless forward by 208 runs – will look to return out with extra depth to attempt to bowl out Assam shortly in its quest for an enormous win.