Tamil Nadu recovered from an initial collapse to end the first day on 291 for 9 in the 'Elite' Group B Ranji Trophy league match against Assam in Chennai on Tuesday.

Put in to bat, the hosts lost their first three wickets with just 85 runs on board. With three of the hosts players -- R Satish, Raghuram and Vasanthsaravan -- migrating to Assam after being unable to get a berth in the Tamil Nadu team, the visitors were able to gain control of the match in

the first session. Had it not been for a determined effort by opening batsman Dinesh Karthik and Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan, who added 93 valuable runs for the seventh wicket in 22.5 overs, Tamil Nadu would have been in dire straits.

Medium pacer Satish (9-1-33-3), leggie Raghuram (12-1-39-2) and Parag Das (12.4-2-32-2) were the chief wicket-takers for Assam.

Karthik scored 71 (138 balls, 204 mins 10 fours) and Vidyuth chipped in with 53 (62 balls, 87min 9 fours).

After captain Suresh (14) was adjudged leg before wicket to new ball bowler Gautham Dutta, medium pacer R Satish came up with a brace of wickets, dismissing both S Sriram (19) and S Badrinath (1).

Sriram was caught behind by Z.Zufri and S Saikia brought off an excellent catch in second slip to send back Badrinath.

Dependable batsman S Sharath (14) also made his exit for a lean score, being caught by Parag Das off his own bowling.

The hosts lost Sunil Viswanathan (13) and were 144 for 6 in 48.1 overs before Karthik and Vidyuth displayed their grit to keep the Assam bowlers at bay.

Scoreboard
Tamil Nadu (1^st Innings):
S Suresh lbw b Gautam Dutta 14
Dinesh Karthik b R Raghuram 71
S Sriram c Z Zufri b R Satish 19
S Badrinath c S Saikia b R Satish 1
S Sharath c&b Parag Das 14
Sunil Viswanathan c R Satish b Orlan Konwar 13
Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan c Kiran Pawar b Raghuram 53
Ramkumar c Kiran Powar b R Satish 73
C Ganapathy b Parag Das 16
M R Srinivas batting 0

Extras: (b-9, lb-6, w-1, nb-1) 17

Total: (for 9 wkts in 89.4 overs) 291

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-81, 3-85, 4-113, 5-140, 6-144, 7-236, 8-291, 9-291.

Bowling: Gautam Dutyta 11-1-44-1; R K Yadav 18-3-59-0; Parag Das 14.2-2-32-2; Orlan Konwar 19-7-42-1; R Satish 9-1-33-3; R Raghuram 12-1-39-2; Kiran Pawar 8-2-27-0.