Sriram misses triple ton as Tamil Nadu amass 599/4

Resuming on 152, Sriram continued to be in solid touch. Batting almost through the second day, he helped himself to another 136 runs before he was dismissed on 288, the third highest score by a Tamil Nadu batsman ever in the history of Ranji Trophy cricket. Helped along by a hundred from another Sridharan - Sharath Tamil Nadu ended the day on 599 for 4.

It was more hard work for the Uttar Pradesh bowlers on Day 2. There was no joy for the bowlers as almost all batsmen made merry. JR Madanagopal (85) added just 5 runs to his overnight score before he was dismissed by young medium pacer Shalab Sriwastava.

S Sharath who has been in national reckoning for a few years now, and scored consistently in the Challenger Trophy, joined the party. Batting fluently, the two southpaws took the game well away from Uttar Pradesh.

Nearing his triple hundred, Sriram slowed down considerably after tea. However, the triple hundred proved to be elusive. Falling just 12 runs short of the mark, Sriram was caught by Sriwastava off the bowling of Raza. His innings lasted just over eleven hours and included a mammoth 38 boundaries.

In the meantime, Sharath was motoring along steadily and remained unbeaten on 128 at stumps. Rajat Bhatia, known for his hard hitting, played an uncharacteristically slow innings and was not out on 7 off the 36 balls when stumps were called.