Prateek took on the TNCA XI attack during the course of his three-figure knock.
| Photo Credit: G. KARTHIKEYAN

Left-hander Prateek Yadav brought up his century (109, 132b, 11×4, 5×6) and skipper Amandeep Khare hit 97 (267b, 9×4) as Chhattisgarh got to 450 for nine before play was called off due to rain on day two of the semifinal versus TNCA XI in the Buchi Babu cricket tournament at the NPR College cricket ground in Natham on Tuesday (September 3, 2024).

Prateek, batting on 61 overnight, scored briskly and reached his century with two sixes off left-arm spinner Ajith Ram.

He charged at the spinner for a long-off six to get to 94 and two balls later, slog-swept over mid-wicket to get to his mark off 113 balls.

When pacer Achyuth challenged him with a short ball, Prateek pulled it to the square leg boundary for a four.

He casually charged at pacer Sonu Yadav and lofted an inside-out four to the cover boundary.

He eventually missed an attempted inside-out to the cover boundary and was bowled by off-spinner Lakshay Jain.

By the time he departed, Prateek had extended the fourth-wicket stand to 164 runs with his captain Amandeep, who had resumed his attritional batting from overnight.

Fours galore

Amandeep flicked Achyuth for a four through mid-wicket and cover-drove Sonu for a similar outcome. Lakshay’s off-spin was reverse-swept to deep backward point and lofted to long on for two fours.

Sharp catch

With a century around the corner, he ended up hitting a wide delivery from Lakshay straight to short fine leg, where Mokit Hariharan took a sharp low catch.

The scores (semifinal, day two): Chhattisgarh 450/9 in 146.2 overs (Ayush Pandey 82, Anuj Tiwari 93, Amandeep Khare 97, Prateek Yadav 109, Ajith Ram 4/109, Lakshay Jain 4/141) vs. TNCA XI.

At Tirunelveli: Hyderabad 313 vs TNCA President’s XI 291/6 in 90 overs (Vimal Khumar 75, K.T.A. Madhava Prasad 40, S. Rithik Easwaran 83 batting, M. Mohammed 41 batting, Tanay Thyagarajan 4/78).