Ranji Roundup: Tamil Nadu win; Jharkhand score thrilling victory

Tamil Nadu beat Kerala to register first win of season

Tamil Nadu registered their first win of the season, beating Kerala by 151 runs Sunday in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match at the M A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.

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 medium-pacer 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.

Brief Scores:

Tamil Nadu 268 and 252 for 7 declared beat Kerala 152 and 217 in 89 overs (Sijomon Joseph 55, Sanju Samson 91; T Natarajan 5/41) by 151 runs. Points: TN:6; Kerala: 0.

At Mohali: Himachal Pradesh 390 beat Punjab 84 and 199 all out (Gurvinder Singh 4/44) by an innings and 107 runs. Points: HP:7, Punjab:0.

Debutant Vashisht shines in Gambhir's farewell game

Debutant off-spinner Shivank Vashisht picked up a five-wicket haul as Delhi ended with three points after a draw with Andhra in the Ranji Trophy, a game that marked the end of Gautam Gambhir's illustrious career.

Delhi, resuming the day at 409 for seven, went on to score 433 in response to Andhra's 390 all out for the all-important first innings lead.

Gambhir made a mark in his farewell game with a solid 112. However, he did n come out to bat on the final day after Delhi dismissed Andhra for 130 all out in 59 overs.

Set an 88-run target, Delhi managed 41 for two in five overs with Anuj Rawat dismissed on what turned out to be the final ball of the day.

Vashisht did the maximum damage for Delhi and ended with figures of 5 for 49 in 20 overs. Left-arm spinner Vikash Mishra took three wickets to take his match tally to five.

With a third draw in four matches, Delhi are yet to taste victory this season and face a huge task of making the knock-outs. They are placed second last in Group B, only ahead of Andhra.

Delhi have been below-par but they have also been hit by the absence of lead pacer Navdeep Saini, who is in New Zealand with the India A squad.

Jharkhand score thrilling 2-run win over Odisha

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 in Ranchi.

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 after conceding the first innings lead at the JSCA International Stadium.

For the hosts, Anukul Roy (4-51) was the main wicket-taker who was ably supported by Aaron, Rahul Shukla (2-43), Ashish Kumar (1-36) and Rahul Prasad (1-64).

Meanwhile, at Agartala, Haryana clinched six points as they defeated hosts Tripura by 55 runs.

At Porvorim, the Goa versus Services match ended in a tame draw with the hosts grabbing 3 points on the basis of their first innings lead.

Brief scores:

At Ranchi: Jharkhand 172 and 288 (Saurabh Tiwari 132; Rajesh Mohanty 4-87) beat Odisha 201 and 257 (Subransu Senapati 157 not out; Anukul Roy 4-51, Rahul Shukla 2-43)by 2 runs. Jharkhand 6 points, Odisha 0 points.

At Agartala: Haryana 292 and 119 (H J Rana 64; A S Sarkar 3-15) beat Tripura 250 and 106 (Pratyush Singh 23; A R Rana 4-37, Tinu Kundu 3-19) by 55 runs. Haryana 6 points , Tripura 0 points.

At Porvorim: Services 184 and 332 (Rahul Singh Gahlaut 111, Rajat Paliwal 94; Amit Verma 5-39) drew with Goa 259 and 67/2 (Amit Verma 23 not out). Goa 3 points, Services 1 point.