TN beat Kerala for 1st win of the season
Chennai, Dec. 9: Tamil Nadu registered their first win of the season, beating Kerala by 151 runs on Sunday in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘ B’ match at the M A Chidambaram stadium here.
The victory and six points renewed Tamil Nadu’s hopes after the team had logged only five points from four matches prior to the Kerala game. They are now at fifth place in the standings with 11 points.
Kerala are second in the group on 13 points behind Madhya Pradesh ( 18). Needing 369 to win their third match, Kerala were bowled out for 217 despite half- centuries from Sanju Samson ( 91) and Sijomon Joseph ( 55). The two added 93 runs for the third wicket to defy the Tamil Nadu bowlers, who were on the lookout for breakthroughs. Resuming at 27 for 1 this morning, Kerala lost K B Arun Karthick for 33 to a catch by N Jagadeesan off Sai Kishore’s bowling.
The partnership between Samson and Sijomon Joseph, who showed great resolve, raised Kerala’s hopes of pulling off a draw. Left- arm mediumpacer T Natarajan, who was the star for the home side in the second innings picking up five wickets, broke through by getting Joseph leg- before. None of the other batsmen showed any resistance as Natarajan triggered the collapse and sealed an important and much- needed win for Tamil Nadu.
JHARKHAND REGISTER THRILLING WIN Jharkhand bowlers held their nerves as they guided their team to a nail- biting 2- run win over Odisha in the Elite Group C Ranji Trophy game.
Subransu Senapati played a valiant unbeaten knock of 157 off 321 balls for the visitors, farming the strike beautifully in the company of the last two batsmen, but failed to take his team past the finishing line.
Chasing a stiff target of 260, Odisha were reeling at 8- 154 when Senapati stitched two crucial partnerships with number 10 Basant Mohanty ( 4 off 38 balls) and number 11 Dhiraj Singh ( 7 off 43 balls) to take his side on the cusp of a memorable win.
But experienced pacer Varun Aaron ( 2- 57) cleaned up Dhiraj Singh to dash off Odisha's hopes as Jharkhand registered a heart- stopping win. Group ‘ A’: At Pune: Maharashtra 352 & 254 ( Rahul Tripathi 76, Shivam Dubey 3/ 25) drew with Mumbai 273 & 135/ 5 in 47 overs ( Aditya Tare 52*). Points: Maharashtra 3; Mumbai 1. At Valsad: Gujarat 367 & 191/ 7 in 92 overs ( Priyank Panchal 58, Kathan Patel 50, Harsh Tyagi 4- 46) drew with Railways 547/ 9 decl. Points: Railways 3, Gujarat 1.
Group ‘ B’: Tamil Nadu 268 & 252/ 7 decl. bt Kerala 152 and 217 in 89 overs ( Sijomon Joseph 55, Sanju Samson 91; T Natarajan 5/ 41). Points: TN 6; Kerala: 0. At Mohali: Himachal Pradesh 390 bt Punjab 84 & 199 in 81.5 overs ( Gurvinder Singh 4/ 44). Points: HP 7, Punjab 0. Group ‘ C’: At Ranchi: Jharkhand 172 & 288 ( Saurabh Tiwari 132; Rajesh Mohanty 4/ 87) bt Odisha 201 and 257 in 101.3 overs ( Subransu Senapati 157*; Anukul Roy 4/ 51, Rahul Shukla 2/ 43). Points: Jharkhand 6; Odisha 0. At Agartala: Haryana 292 & 119 ( H J Rana 64; A S Sarkar 3/ 15) bt Tripura 250 and 106 in 32.3 overs ( Pratyush Singh 23; A R Rana 4/ 37, Tinu Kundu 3/ 19). Points: Haryana 6; Tripura 0. At Porvorim: Services 184 & 332 ( Rahul Singh Gahlaut 111, Rajat Paliwal 94; Amit Verma 5/ 39) drew with Goa 259 and 67/ 2 in 54 overs ( Amit Verma 23*). Points: Goa 3, Services 1.