Chandigarh: Opener Balraj Singh’s unbeaten century has laid the strong foundation for a massive total against Tripura on the opening day of the Cooch Behar trophy match being played at Cricket Stadium, Sector 16 on Friday as Chandigarh put up 257/5 before the stumps were drawn.
Earlier, Tripura won the toss and decided to field first. UT boys got off to a dismal start when they lost Devang Kaushik (11) who was dismissed by Bishal Sinha at the team score of 22. The team was on the verge of recovering when they received a second blow in the form of wicketkeeper batter Aryan Verma (32) with 78/2 on the board. Opener Balraj was joined by new batter Ishan Gaba who stitched a century partnership of 108 runs. Later, just three runs short of his half-century, Ishan Gaba (47) became the second victim by Bishal Sinha. Thereafter, skipper Paras (3) failed to contribute which reduced the side to 208/4. With the dismissal of Nikhil (14), half of the side went back to the pavilion with 235 on the board. Unbeaten Tejveer scored 16 while unbeaten Balraj faced 281 balls and smashed 16 boundaries for his valiant knock of 116. Bishal Sinha (2/23) took the maximum two wickets.
