Yahspal props up Services

Yashpal played a resolute innings of 87* that came off 168 balls.

New Delhi | October 30, 2013 01:30 AM IST

2 min read

Yashpal Singh made an unbeaten half century to lift Services to 245 for five in their first innings in reply to Tamil Nadus 456 for seven declared at the end of Day Three of their Ranji Trophy Group B season-opener. Yashpal played a resolute innings of 87* that came off 168 balls and was studded with 15 hits to the fence to keep Services in the hunt. Apart from Yashpal,skipper Soumik Chatterjee scored 47 and Anshul Gupta made 37. At stumps,Services trailed Tamil Nadu by 211 runs with five wickets in hand.

Resuming at 17-0,Services lost opener Pratik Desai for 19. Chatterjee and Gupta added 62 runs for the second wicket before off-spinner Malolan Rangarajan (2/46) accounted for two quick wickets to reduce Services to 98 for three in 43.2 overs. Gupta was stumped by Dinesh Karthik off Rangarajan,while new man Vishnu Tiwari fell lbw to the off-spinner in his next over. Chatterjee and Yashpal steadied the ship,adding 61 runs for the fourth wicket before the skipper was dismissed. Next in,Rajat Paliwal departed after scoring 5. It was left to Yashpal and wicketkeeper Sarabjit Singh (13*) to dig Services out of trouble.