RANJI TROPHY: Tamil Nadu beats Saurashtra by an innings and 70 runs

COIMBATORE: Ambala-born medium pacer Gurjapneet Singh turned hero for Tamil Nadu as the R Sai Kishore-led team handed a heavy defeat of an innings and 70 runs to Saurashtra in the opening round of the Ranji Trophy here on Monday.

Gurjapneet picked up 6 wickets in the second innings as Tamil Nadu bundled out Saurashtra for just 94 runs. Saurashtra - a domestic powerhouse in recent years - had no answer to the pacer’s skills. The left-arm pacer registered figures of 14-5-22-6 in the second innings of the match.

The seamer picked up crucial wickets of Chirag Jani, Parswaraj Rana, Cheteshwar Pujara, Arpit Vasavada, Prerak Mankad, and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja to leave Saurashtra reeling in its final innings of the game. It needs to be reminded that the Tamil Nadu team was aided by the fantastic ground staff at the Coimbatore Stadium, who were able to dry up the ground after a tremendous amount of rainfall from the previous day.

Brief scores: Saurashtra 203 & 94 in 40.4 overs (Gurjapneet Singh 6/22, S Yadav 3/29) lost to Tamil Nadu 367