Ranji Trophy: Tamil Nadu inches closer to knock-out stage with thumping win against Chandigarh

SALEM: A dominant Tamil Nadu kept one foot on the knock-out door with a commanding 209-run victory over Chandigarh in a group D match of the Ranji Trophy here on Sunday. This was Tamil Nadu’s second outright win against Chandigarh in as many games. Its previous victory came last season courtesy of an innings and 293-run margin in Coimbatore.

Left-arm spinners S Ajith Ram (4/89 in 19 overs) and R Sai Kishore (4/62 in 21 overs) shared the bulk of spoils as Chandigarh was shot out for 193 in pursuit of an improbable 403 on the final day. Veteran Manan Vohra carried his bat through with an unbeaten 100 but eight of his batters failed to reach double digits.

Tamil Nadu now has 25 points from six games. In its final group match against Jharkhand in Jamshedpur, it will need at least one point to secure its qualification for the next stage of the National First-Class Championship.

Group D has presented some intriguing possibilities with an open-ended points table. Despite the defeat, Chandigarh remains in contention with 19 points and a final game against Chattisgarh in Raipur where it need to win outright (25) or with a bonus point (26) to remain in contention for knock-out stages.

Saurashtra, which beat Delhi in just one and half days is currently third in the table with 18 points and has the best chance of getting another seven on an under-prepared track at Rajkot where it will get Assam as an opposition.

In a situation where Tamil Nadu loses its match outright and Saurashtra wins with bonus points, both will be on 25 points. It will then be decided on NRR as both TN and Saurashtra have two bonus point victories in league stages.

As far as Delhi (14 points) and Railways (17 points) are concerned, they both need bonus points in theory but that might not be enough in the end.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 301 & 305/5 decl. Bt Chandigarh 204 & 193 in 50 overs (M Vohra 100, R Sai Kishore 4/62, S Ajith Ram 4/89)