An unbeaten century by S Sarath placed Tamil Nadu comfortably against Saurashtra at 293 for three on the opening day of their four-day Ranji Trophy elite division match in Rajkot on Sunday.

Electing to bat, the visitors lost openers S Anirudha 28 (5x4) and M Vijay 18 (3x4) cheaply, but Prasanna 89 (10x4, 2x6) and Sarath added 160 runs for the third wicket.

Sarath also notched up another 72 for his unbroken partnership with Satish, who played an aggresive knock making 51 off 52 balls with eight fours.

Making his 100th Ranji Trophy match memorable, Sarath crossed the three-figure score hammering a six of medium pacer Kanaiy Vaghela.

He was batting on 103 (240b, 14x4,1x6) with Satish 51 (52b; 8x4) when stumps were drawn for the day.

For Saurashtra, left-arm medium pacer Sandip Jobanputra was the most succesful bowler taking two for 66 while spinner Kamlesh Makwana took one conceding 74 runs.

Scorecard

Tamil Nadu 1st innings
S Anirudha lbw S Jobanputra 28
M Vijay c Jogiyani b Jobanputra 18
R Prasanna c Jadeja b K Makwana 89
S Sarath batting 103
R Satish batting 51

Extras (nb-3, lb-1) 4

Total (for three wickets in 90 overs) 293

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-61, 3-221.

Bowling: S Jobanputra 20-5-66-2, S Maniar 7-1-43-0, R Dhruve 19-7-65-0, K Vaghela 7-2-18-0, K Makwana 33-11-74-1, R Jadeja 4-0-26-0.