Tamil Nadu settles for three points against Chhattisgarh

Tamil Nadu came close to securing an outright win, but had to settle for just three points from its drawn Ranji Trophy Elite Group H contest against Chhattisgarh that ended on Sunday in Guwahati.

After bowling Chhattisgarh out for 304 in the first innings, Tamil Nadu enforced follow-on on its rival in a bid to bag maximum points. 

However, the Vijay Shankar-led team could not get the desired result on the final day of the four-day fixture as Shashank Singh (67 off 124 balls, 6 fours, 5 sixes) and skipper Harpreet Singh Bhatia (43 not out off 162 balls, 3 fours) stood tall.

Chhattisgarh, which held a six-run lead at stumps after posting 172 for eight in its second innings, managed a point and is top of Pool H with seven points from two matches. Tamil Nadu is third with six points off two games and will meet second-placed Jharkhand (6 points from 2 matches) in its all-important final round-robin fixture.

BRIEF SCORES: Tamil Nadu 470/9 decl. drew with Chhattisgarh 304 in 133.3 overs (Harpreet 170, R Sai Kishore 4/68, B Aparajith 3/55) & (following-on) 172/8 in 76 overs (Shashank 67, Harpreet 43*, R Sai Kishore 3/44, M Siddharth 3/48). Points: TN 3(6); Chhattisgarh 1(7)

BRIEF SCORES OF MATCHES IN CHENNAI (IN ELITE GROUP C):At the IIT-M Chemplast Ground: Karnataka 302 & 298/3 decl. bt J&K 93 & 390 in 98.5 overs (F Rashid 65, Ian Dev 110, A Samad 70, P Rasool 46, A Mushtaq 43, P Krishna 4/59, S Gopal 4/155). Points: Karnataka 6(9); J&K 0(6)

At the Guru Nanak College Ground: Pondicherry 342 & 208/3 in 62 overs (P Dogra 64*, P Deshpande 59*) drew with Railways 525/9 decl. Points: Railways 3(4); Pondicherry 1(1)