Uphill challenge for Kerala

Chennai, Dec. 8: Kerala were 27 for 1 in 11 overs at stumps on the third day, chasing 369 for a win against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘ B’ match here. K. B. Arun Karthick ( on 12) and Sijomon Joseph ( 1) were at the crease.

Tamil Nadu declared second innings at 252 for 7, riding on half- centuries from captain Baba Indrajith ( 92) and M. Kaushik Gandhi ( 59) to set the visitors a daunting target.

The home team bowlers came to the fore to dismiss Kerala for 152 in the first innings in response to TN’s 268 early this morning as the visitors could add one run to the overnight score. Rahil Shah removed Sijomon Joseph ( 29) to finish with 4 for 32.

Left- arm medium- pacer T. Natarajan ended with three wickets and R. Sai Kishore had two scalps. TN started the second innings in a brisk fashion as southpaw Abhinav Mukund and Kaushik Gandhi appeared to be on the lookout for runs.

Mukund hit half a dozen boundaries and looked good for a big one, before off- spinner Jalaj Saxena had him caught behind by Vishnu Vinod for 33 ( 43 balls), having added 55 runs for the opening wicket. Baba Aparajith ( 4) didn’t last long and fell to a catch by Vishnu Vinod of Sandeep Warrier.

Gandhi ( 59) was involved in a 78- run partnership for the third wicket with skipper Baba Indrajith, who followed up his first innings knock of 87 with another classy effort. Indrajith ( 92, 148 balls) hit six boundaries and fell in the quest for quick runs, missing out on a ton.

The experienced Dinesh Karthik, back in the squad after being part of the national T20 team in Australia, failed for a second time, caught by Arun Karthick of left- arm spinner Sijomon Joseph for 1. N. Jagadeesan ( 19) fell at the stroke of tea, nicking one to

Warrier, lead had then.

Debutant M. Shahrukh Khan, who made a quick 34 to follow up his first the ‘ keeper off but the overall passed 300 by

GROUP A

At Pune: Maharashtra 352 & 112/ 5 ( Chirag Khurana 38, Swapnil Gugale 37) vs Mumbai 273 ( S. Lad 93, Aditya Tare 63, A Palkar 4/ 62).

At Rajkot: Saurashtra 316 & 79 ( Pavan Deshpande 3/ 5) bt Karnataka 217 & 91 ( K. Makwana 5/ 28).

At Vadodara: Chhattisgarh 129 & 283 ( Avnish Singh 79, Manoj Singh 61, LI Meriwala 3/ 18) lost to Baroda 385 & 31/ 1.

At Valsad: Gujarat 367 & 4/ 0 versus Railways 547/ 9 decl. ( Rawat 119*, Nitin Bhille 116, HP Patel 3/ 124).

GROUP B At Chennai: Tamil Nadu 268 & 252/ 7 decl. in 70.5 overs ( B. Indrajith 92, Kaushik Gandhi 59, innings knock of 92 not out, was involved in a 62run partnership with Indrajith for the sixth wicket. Both fell in quick succession, following which TN declared, leaving Shahrukh Khan 34, Sijomon Joseph 4/ 51) vs Kerala 152 in 76.5 overs ( P. Rahul 59, T Natarajan 3/ 43, Rahil Shah 4/ 32) & 27/ 1.

At Mohali: Himachal Pradesh 390 in 145.1 overs ( RR Dhawan 61, NR Gangta 58, A. Kalsi 82, M. Dagar 71, Sandeep Sharma 5/ 101) vs Punjab 84 in 35.1 overs ( MJ Dagar 4/ 22) & 195/ 8 in 78 overs ( Abhijeet Garg 48, Shubek Singh Gill 39 ( batting), GK Singh 4/ 43).

At Indore: Hyderabad 124 in 35.3 overs ( Himalay Agarwal 69*, Avesh Khan 7/ 24) & 185 in 65.5 overs ( Rohit Rayudu 72, Avesh Khan 5/ 30) lost to Madhya Pradesh 562/ 4 decl. in 140.4 overs ( Ajay Rohera 267*, Rajat Patidar 51, Yash Dubey 139*). Kerala 369 for victory.

Kerala lost the experienced Jalaj Saxena ( 12) early in the chase when he gave a catch to Indrajith off Natarajan’s bowling.

GROUP C At Jaipur: Rajasthan 325 bt Assam 108 & 174 ( Gokul Sharma 77, Kunal Saikia 49, Aniket Choudhary 5/ 40).

At Jammu: Jammu & Kashmir 290 & 111 ( Saurabh Kumar 5/ 28, Yash Dayal 4/ 26) lost to UP 188 & 218/ 4 ( Suresh Raina 66*).

At Agartala: Tripura 250 & 104/ 7 ( AR Rana 4/ 37) vs Haryana 292 & 119 ( HJ Rana 64, AS Sarkar 3/ 15).

At Porvorim: Services 184 & 277/ 5 ( Rajat Paliwal 94, Rahul Singh Gahlaut 81*) vs Goa 259 ( Darshan Misal 101, Lakshay Garg 50, Diwesh Gurudev Pathania 5/ 74).

At Ranchi: Jharkhand 172 & 288 ( Saurabh Tiwari 132*, Ishank Jaggi 35, Rajesh Mohanty 4/ 87) vs Odisha 201 & 81/ 3 ( Anurag 41). Goa, Dec. In- form and invincible Churchill Brothers will look to produce another splendid performance against former champions Aizawl FC when the two teams meet in an I- League fixture here on Sunday.

While Churchill will look to close the gap with table- toppers Chennai City with a win at Tilak Maidan here, Aizawl will look to infuse more consistency in their campaign, which has largely flattered to deceive. Churchill Brothers have been having a successful campaign so far, coming away unscathed from some tough games to lie in fourth place with 10 points from six games. A win on Sunday would leave them just four points adrift of Chennai and make the two- time former champions, their most serious challengers. The visitors, on the other hand, have blown hot and cold with some impressive performances interspersed with very ordinary ones. Coach 8: Gift Raikhan will have his task cut out against a rampaging Churchill frontline spearheaded by Trinidadian Willis Plaza and Gambian Dawda Cessay. The duo has accounted for eight of Churchill’s 10 goals so far and Plaza heads the league highest scorer charts with six to his name. The quality of finish in the last three games, in particular, is what will give Raikhan headaches. The home side also has a solid defence with Serbian Nenad Novakovic, Libyan Hussein Eldor and Wayne Vaz dishing out virtuoso performances game after game and with Israel Gurung and Khalid Aucho in midfield, Romanian coach Petra Gigiu seems to have all his bases covered. “Tomorrow we expect to win the match. Every game is different in its own way but we will play 100%. We lost points but we are ready to face Aizawl,” Gigiu said in the pre- game chat.