Last year's finalists Tamil Nadu are almost assured of full four points as Assam, chasing 454 for a win, were tottering at 158 for six in their second innings at close on the penultimate day of their four-day Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match in Chennai on Thruday.
Tamil Nadu, who made 277 for six declared in their second innings were helped by overnight batsmen -- S Suresh and S Badrinath, who put on 117 runs for the third wicket.
Captain Suresh was caught at covers by Raghuram of Kiran Pawar for 73 (8 fours) but Badrinath held on gamely to remain unbeaten with a superb 115, which included 16 hits to the fence. He, then, added 46 runs with Vidyuth Shivramkrishnan (30) for the fourth wicket.
Chasing the mammoth target with a full day to spare tomorrow, Assam wilted under the pressure. Vasanth Saravanan (61 not out) was the only batsman to survive in the face of a disciplined pace and spin attack.
Assam openers S Saikia and Parag Das were back in the pavillion with just 35 on board. Kiran Pawar (16) was adjudged leg before to Suresh and three more wickets fell in
quick succession -- spinner Ramkumar dismissing Zakaria Zulfi (16) and R Satish (11) and Tamilkumaran scalping Sukwinder for four.
At close, Gautam Das (8) was giving company to Vasanth Saravanan at the crease.
Tamil Nadu (first innings) 310
Assam (first innings) 134
Tamil Nadu (second innings)
S Suresh c Raghuram b Pawar 73
D Karthick lbw b Yadav 0
S Sriram b Konwar 22
S Badrinath not out 115
V Sivaramakrishnan c Sukwinder b Raghuram 30
Ramkumar c and b Raghuram 5
S Viswanathan c Zufri b Raghuram 19
C Ganapathy not out 10
Extras (B-1, W-2) 3
Total (for six wkts decl in 74 overs) 277
Fall of wkts:1/0, 2/49, 3/166, 4/212, 5/218, 6/260
Bowling: Gautam Dutta 3-1-13-0; R.K.Yadav 10-0-48-1; R
Satish 3-0-8-0; Parag Das 10-4-20-0; Orlan Konwar 11-2-45-1
Raghuram 20-2-85-3; Kiran Pawar 15-1-49-1 Subrajit Saikia
1-0-2-0; Vasanth Saravanan 1-0-6-0.
Assam (second innings):
S Sakia c D Karthick b Ganapathy 21
Parag Das c D Karthick B Tamil Kumaran 14
Kiran LBW b S Suresh 16
Vasanth Saravanan batting 61
Zakaria Zulfi c Sriram b Ramkumar 16
R Satish b Ramkumar 11
Sukwinder Singh c D Karthick b Tamil Kumaran 4
Gautam Das batting 8
Extras: (B-1, LB-3, W-2, NB-1) 7
Total (for six wkts in 48 overs) 158
Fall of wkts: 1/31, 2/35, 3/72, 4/111, 5/135, 6/140
Bowling: M Srinivas 3-0-6-0; Tamil Kumaran 10.2-2-39-2;
Ramkumar 14-3-41-2; C Ganapathy 8-1-26-1; S Suresh 7-3-23-1,
Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan 5-1-12-0 S Badrinath 0.4-0-7-0.
