Ranji Trophy: Rinku Singh stars with unbeaten 98 as UP wrap up Day 3 on strong note vs Tamil Nadu

Uttar Pradesh batter Rinku Singh was the star of the show as his side wrapped up Day 3 on a positive note against Tamil Nadu. The left-hand batter remained unbeaten on 98, taking the team's total to 339/6. Though he missed out by just a whisker from reaching a well-deserved century, he will have the chance to do so on the next day.

Eralier, Tamil Nadu had posted a humongous first-inning total of 455 on the board thanks to brilliant centuries from Baba Indrajith (149) and Andre Siddharth (121). Guruswamy Ajitesh also played a vital knock of 86 as the team led by Sai Kishore capped off a fabulous batting performance. Left-arm spinner Kartik Yadav proved to be the star performer for UP in the bowling department, recording figures of 5/103.

UP batters put in a fine display

In reply, UP got off to a strong start thanks to a 73-run opening partnership from Abhishek Goswami and Madhav Kaushik. The former was clearly the aggressor among the two while the latter was never really able to find his footing on the crease and got dismissed for 21 runs. The duo of Goswami and Aryan Juyal took the innings forward.

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Goswami was looking in great touch and looked set to put up a big score after reaching his half-century. But he was eventually dismissed for 79 by left-arm spinner P Vidyuth, who also sent Juyal back to the pavilion for 43 runs in his very next over. After being restricted to 191/5 at one stage, UP were in need of a big partnership and they got that from the duo of Rinku and Shivam Mavi. 

Rinku decimates TN bowlers

Both the batters reached their half-centuries, smacking opposing bowlers all around the park and helped their team reach awfully close to the 300-run mark. However, with only a few overs left in the day, Mavi was dismissed for 54 runs by Saravana Kumar, leaving UP on 295/6. However, the fall of the wicket didn't stop Rinku from scoring freely and he finished off the day with a solid 44-run stand with Shivam Sharma, who remained unbeaten on 18. Rinku, who has hit 9 boundaries and 3 sixes so far, will be fancying his chances of scoring his second century of the ongoing tournament as the action resumed on Day 4.