Ranji Trophy: Tamil Nadu-Chhattisgarh clash ends in a draw

It was a case of so near, yet so far for Tamil Nadu in their drawn Ranji Trophy clash against Chhattisgarh at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday. Tamil Nadu, who declared their opening essay on 470-9, ended their opponents' first innings on 304 in the morning session on Day 4 and enforced the follow-on. In the second innings, Tamil Nadu --- who had 76 overs to force a result --- reduced Chhattisgarh to 172-8 before the game was called off. Tamil Nadu got three points for their efforts while Chhattisgarh had to settle for just one.
It was a lion-hearted effort by the Tamil Nadu spinners who kept a tight leash on the Chhattisgarh batsmen on the final day. Left-arm spinners – Sai Kishore (3-44), M Siddharth (3-48) --- and Aparajith (2-24) spiced things up by reducing Chhattisgarh to 65-5 in their second innings. But Harpreet (43 n.o., 3x4) and Shashank Singh (67, 6x4, 5x6) brought parity to the proceedings with their 94-run sixth wicket stand. Harpreet was lucky to survive a few close leg-before calls and half-chances being put down.
With 13 overs remaining in the match, Sai Kishore revived Tamil Nadu's fortunes when he had Shashank caught at slips by Indrajith. Sai Kishore then dismissed Veer Pratap Singh (0) while Siddharth trapped Shahbaz Hussain leg-before (0). However, Harpreet and Sumit Ruikar (4 n.o.) survived a few jittery moments in the end before the curtains came down on the contest.
The day started with Baba Aparajith (3-55 in the 1st innings) getting the remaining two wickets in the morning session to dismiss Chhattisgarh for 304. Aparajith trapped Harpreet Singh Bhatia (170, 15x4, 2x6) leg-before and then dismissed Veer Pratap Singh (25, 2x4, 2x6) to signal the end of Chhattisgarh's first innings.
"It would have been great to get a win but I am proud of the way our boys fought. Had we taken those half-chances against Harpreet, it would have been a different story but that's a part and parcel of the game," Tamil Nadu coach M Venkataramana told TOI.
Scoreboard:
Tamil Nadu 470-9 declared.
Chhattisgarh 1st innings (O/N 261-8): Harpreet Singh lbw b Aparajith 170, Amandeep Khare c Indrajith b Sai Kishore 23, Sumit Ruikar lbw b Siddharth 0, Shashank Singh c Suryaprakash b Sai Kishore 2, Ajay Mandal c Jagadeesan b Aparajith 35, Shahbaz Hussain lbw b Sai Kishore 0, Veer Pratap Singh lbw b Aparajith 25, Ravi Kiran not out 0; Extras (b23) 23; Total (All out in 133.3 overs): 304; FoW: 1-14, 2-24, 3-40, 4-98, 5-99, 6-118, 7-201, 8-208, 9-291, 10-304;
Bowling: Warrier 18-4-60-0, Siddharth 26-10-55-2, Sai Kishore 41-15-68-4, Mohammed 10-5-17-1, Aparajith 29.3-11-55-3, Shankar 3-1-9-0, Shahrukh Khan 5-0-13-0, Kaushik Gandhi 1-0-4-0.
Chhattisgarh 2nd innings (Following on): Akhil Herwadkar c Shankar b Siddharth 1, Sanidhya Hurkat c Suryaprakash b Siddharth 25, Ashutosh Singh c Gandhi b Aparajith 16, Ajay Mandal b Aparajith 4, Amandeep Khare c Jagadeesan b Sai Kishore 1, Shashank Singh c Indrajith b Sai Kishore 67, Harpreet Singh (c) n.o. 43, Veer Pratap Singh c Suryaprakash b Sai Kishore 0, Shahbaz Hussain lbw b Siddharth 0, Sumit Ruikar n.o. 4; Extras (b8, lb2, w1) 11; Total (For 8 wickets in 76 overs): 172; FoW: 1-5, 2-35, 3-45, 4-46, 5-65, 6-159, 7-163, 8-168;
Bowling: Warrier 5-0-19-0, Siddharth 17-6-48-3, Sai Kishore 26-15-44-3, Aparajith 19-7-24-2, Shahrukh Khan 4-2-5-0, Kaushik Gandhi 5-1-22-0