Starting their campaign on a positive note, last year's runners-up Tamil Nadu scored an emphatic innings and 108 runs victory over Hyderabad in their Elite Group 'B' match of the Ranji Trophy in Chennai on Wednesday.
Tight bowling by left arm spinners R Ram Kumar and R Raghuram sealed the fate of Hyderabad who folded up for 190 in their second innings on the fourth and final day.
The visitors were dismissed for 163 in the first innings while Tamil Nadu, in reply, had declared at 461 for six.
Tamil Nadu gained five points including a bonus point for the huge win.
Ram Kumar, who claimed six for 71, had a match haul of 12 for 128. Raghuram claimed three wickets giving away 42 runs.
Earlier, play starting only after lunch due to heavy overnight rain, which made the outfield wet.
Hyderabad, who were 63 for one overnight, looked to be heading towards drawing the match as they were in a comfortable position at 164 for 4 in 62 overs at tea.
But, with the addition of 19 runs, the visitors lost four wickets and were 183 for 8, when the mandatory overs started.
Opener Daniel Manohar batted resolutely for Hyderabad making a valuable 75 before being caught at deep mid wicket by Srinivas off Ram Kumar. Kumar struck a good patch claiming three wickets off six overs, three of which were maidens and conceded ten runs in his fourth spell today.
Scoreboard
Hyderabad (First innings) 163
Tamil Nadu (First innings) 461
Hyderabad (second innings) 190
Nanda Kishore b Badrinath 32
Daniel Manohar c M R Srinivas b Ram Kumar 75
I.S.Reddy c (sub) Sri Vasudeva Das b Ram Kumar 2
Anirudh Singh c S.Ramesh b Ram Kumar 27
A.T.Rayyudu st.Dinesh Karthick b Ram Kumar 14
Arjun Yadav c Sriram b Ram Kumar 12
Ibrahim Khaleel c (sub) Hemanth Kumar b Ram Kumar 0
Shivaji Yadav c Dinesh Karthick b Raghuram 11
V.P.Raju c (sub) Hemanth Kumar b Raghuram 5
D.Vinay Kumar not out 1
N.P.Singh c (sub) Hemanth Kumar b Raghuram 0
Extras (b-5, nb-1, penalty-5) 11
Total (all out, 81.1 overs) 190
Fall of wkts:1/63, 2/83, 3/136, 4/146, 5/167, 6/167, 7/168, 8/183, 9/190,
Bowling: M R Srinivas 11-3-28-0, S.Suresh 8-5-3-0, R.Ram Kumar 28-7-71-6, R.Raghuram 17.1-3-42-3, Vidyuth 9-0-22-0, S.Badrinath 8-4-14-1.