Tamil Nadu posts first Ranji Trophy victory

The Baba Aparajith-led side had a walk in the park at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here as Railways succumbed to an innings and 164-run defeat on just the second day of the four-day fixture. Tamil Nadu, which found itself in the drop zone ahead of the start of its last home game, temporarily moved to the 11th spot on the Elite A and B points table.

Having completed a comfortable outright success, the home side racked up seven points (six + one bonus) and now has a tally of 12 from half-a-dozen matches. Tamil Nadu will be on the road for the final quarter of its round-robin stage, crossing swords with Baroda (in Vadodara) and Saurashtra (in Rajkot) next month.

Replying to Railways’ tiny first innings total of 76, Tamil Nadu, with an overnight score of 236 for four, let the tourist make a mini comeback by suffering a batting collapse. The host managed just 94 runs on Monday, throwing away six wickets in little more than a session.

Baba Indrajith (58), who returned to the state fold only recently after a long injury lay-off, added 56 runs to his existing tally of two, making him the only major contributor with the bat on the day. Indrajith was in the mood as the balls more often than not found the meat of the bat during his 118-ball innings, one which included eight boundaries.

Left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi (5/98) weaved his magic to help Railways bowl out Tamil Nadu for 330. Another slow bowler, Avinash Yadav (3/107), got three wickets, lending good support to Harsh. Despite the late fall, the home team enjoyed a 254-run cushion after theopening exchanges.

A colossal effort was the need of the hour for Railways that had its back against the wall. But instead of fighting tooth and nail, the visitor crumbled under pressure, reproducing a tepid first innings display in the second. Railways’ batters simply failed to handle the Tamil Nadu spinners, who once again had a field day.

Left-arm orthodox R Sai Kishore (5/16) and India international Ravichandran Ashwin (3/36) did the bulk of the damage as the host skittled out the away side for 90 in 36.4 overs. T Natarajan (2/15) initiated the meltdown with two scalps right at the start of the innings. For a second time in a row, only three Railways batsmen reached double figures.

Brief scores: Railways (1st innings) 76 all-out in 39.1 overs; Tamil Nadu (1st innings) 330 all-out in 91 overs(A Mukund 100, D Karthik 58,B Indrajith 58, L Suryapprakash 50); Railways (2nd innings) 90 all-out in 36.4 overs (R Sai Kishore 5/16,R Ashwin 3/36).