Abhinav Mukund made an unbeaten 111 Monday to lead Tamil Nadu's fightback after conceding a first innings lead of 236 runs to Himachal Pradesh on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match here.

In their second outing, TN were 178 for 2.

On the way to his ton, Mukund onsurpassed Sridharan Sharath (6597) as the highest run-scorer for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy. His knock kept the team in the hunt after conceding a massive lead.

Mukund's knock has 16 boundaries.

Earlier, Himachal resuming at the overnight 240 for 5, added 223 runs with Ankit Kalsi moving from 99 to 144 not out. Rishi Dhawan could score only four more runs after resuming at 71 but the lower order helped the centurion extend the team's lead.

For Tamil Nadu, left-arm paceman T Natarajan finished with five for 122. HP were dismissed for 463 in 116.2 overs.

Beginning the second innings with a huge deficit, the visitors suffered an early setback when Dinesh Karthik pushed up the order, was sent packing by Pankaj Jaiswal for 1 with the score at 5 for 1.

Baba Aparajith joined forces with Mukund and added 85 runs as the visitors looked intent to occupy the crease.

Aparajith was caught behind by Prashant Chopra for 24 off Raghav Dhawan but skipper Baba Indrajith and Mukund ensured that the team did not suffer any further losses.

Mukund and Indrajith (36 batting) have added 88 runs and will look to bat big if Tamil Nadu hopes to deny Himachal an outright win.

Brief scores (at end of day 3): Tamil Nadu 227 all out in 78.4 overs (B Aparajith 53, Abhishek Tanwar 44, Dinesh Karthik 31, Pankaj Jaiswal 3 for 45) and 178 for 2 (Abhinav Mukund 111 batting) vs HP 463 all out in 116.2 overs (Ankit Kalsi 144 not out, Raghav Dhawan 71, Rishi Dhawan 75, T Natarajan 5 for 122, M Mohammed 2 for 85).

At Visakhapatnam: Bengal 300 all out in 111.3 overs (Manoj Tiwary 90, Writtick Chaterjee 76, Pradipta Pramanik 43, Agniv Pan 39, K V Shasikanth 5 for 55) vs Andhra 321 for 9 in 119 overs (C R Gnaneshwar 66, K S Bharat 61, Ricky Bhui 52, Jyothisaikrishna 43, Mukesh Kumar 3 for 45, Pradipta Pramanik 3 for 69).

At Hyderabad: Hyderabad 317 all out in 109.3 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 60, Akshat Reddy 77, Himalay Agarwal 51 batting, Mayank Markande 3 for 65) vs Punjab 303 all out 202 for 4 in 68 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 85, Mandeep Singh 63, Gurkeerat Singh 87 not out, D Ravi Teja 5 for 57).

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