Tamil Nadu took home three points after its gritty show against Uttar Pradesh in the Elite Group-B Ranji Trophy match ended in a draw after an eventful final day at the Green Park Stadium here on Monday.
In the morning, the exciting battle for the first-innings honours went the visitors’ way as left-arm pacer T. Natarajan took the final wicket of skipper Ankit Rajpoot in his third over.
The hosts’ last-wicket pair needed to score just 11 to go past Tamil Nadu’s 180, but managed just five and conceded a five-run lead.
Disastrous start
Tamil Nadu began its second essay on a disastrous note, losing openers Ganga Sridhar Raju and L. Suryapprakash with just three runs on the board.
But B. Aparajith (53, 130b, 6x4) steadied the ship, building two crucial partnerships, first with Kaushik Gandhi and then with the skipper Vijay Shankar for the third and fourth wickets.
The youngster displayed immense patience, handling the UP bowlers with aplomb on a last-day pitch that wasn’t easy to bat on.
Once Aparajith departed, caught behind by Upendra off pacer Rajpoot, the rest collapsed like a pack of cards, and the team was bundled out for 154.
Saurabh bags five again
Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar finished with his second five-for, and a match-haul of 10 for 83, to throw open the contest.
UP, sniffing a chance, went for it — 160 in 33 overs — as it had players like Rinku Singh and Mohd. Saif in its ranks.
The former, who opened the innings along with Almas Shaukat, made his intentions clear as he took 10 off left-arm spinner Sai Kishore who was given the new ball.
Rinku continued to be aggressive before Natarajan removed him and Saif off successive deliveries.
The fans kept rooting for UP before the umpires decided to call off the contest due to fading light.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 180.
Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: Almas Shaukat c Jagadeesan b Natarajan 0, Aryan Juyal b Sai Kishore 11, Madhav Kaushik c Kaushik Gandhi b Vignesh 2, Aksh Deep Nath run out 0, Md. Saif c Aparajith b Natarajan 77, Rinku Singh c Mukunth b Sai Kishore 11, Upendra Yadav b Siddharth 36, Saurabh Kumar b Aparajith 18, Zeeshan Ansari b Natarajan 0, Ankit Rajpoot b Natarajan 2. Subham Mavi (not out) 1; Extras (nb-3, b-5, lb-9): 17; Total (in 71.1 overs): 175.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-16, 4-23, 5-51, 6-140, 7-164, 8-165, 9-170.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Natarajan 16.1-6-24-4, Vignesh 10-2-32-1, Sai Kishore 23-7-40-2, Siddarth 14-1-37-1, Aparajith 5-0-22-1, Vijay Shankar 3-1-6-0.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: Ganga Sridhar Raju c Rinku b Rajpoot 1, L. Suryaprakash lbw b Saurabh 2, Kaushik Gandhi c Saif b Saurabh 22, B. Aparajith c Upendra b Rajpoot 53, Vijay Shankar c Zeeshan b Rajpoot 28, N. Jagadeesan c Upendra b Saurabh 4, K. Mukunth lbw b Saurabh 1, Sai Kishore c Upendra b Rinku, M. Siddharth b Saurabh 5, K. Vignesh c Upendra b Rinku 10, T. Natarajan (not out) 0; Extras (b-8, lb-3): 11; Total (in 54.5 overs): 154.
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-3, 3-56, 4-114, 5-121, 6-121, 7-124, 8-144, 9-144.
Uttar Pradesh bowling: Saurabh 27-7-39-5, Rajpoot 13-4-39-3, Saif 1-0-10-0, Zeeshan 12-2-44-0, Rinku 1.5-0-11-2.
Uttar Pradesh — 2nd innings: Rinku Singh c Jagadeesan b Natarajan 27, Almas Shaukat (not out) 14, Mohd. Saif lbw b Natarajan 0, Saurabh (not out) 1; Total (for two wkts. in 7.4 overs): 42.
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-41.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Sai Kishore 1-0-11-0, Natarajan 3.4-0-13-2, Aparajith 3-0-18-0.
MoM: Saurabh Kumar.
Match drawn.
