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Friday, Jan 06, 2006

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It's advantage Tamil Nadu

Special Correspondent

Ganguly has to play a big part for Bengal to force a draw

IN ROARING FORM: After relinquishing captaincy, Hemang Badani has come good in both the innings against Bengal. — Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

KOLKATA: Tamil Nadu's domination of Bengal in the Ranji Trophy Elite group `A' continued on the third day of the four-day game at the Eden Gardens. Having set Bengal a target of 497, the visitors managed to capture three Bengal wickets for 109 runs in 24.1 overs at close.

The home team needed 388 runs more with seven wickets in hand to register what looked like an unlikely win. At stumps, No. 3 Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and No. 5 Sourav Ganguly were unbeaten on 34 and 25 runs respectively.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu resuming at 164 for three went on to score 423 for seven wickets declared, thanks to Hemang Badani's fluent 157 (372m, 16x4, 1x6), S. Sriram's 96 and K. Shri Vasudevadas' 62. The declaration came at tea, leaving Bengal to negotiate the last session of the third day and three sessions on the final day.

Exquisite drives

The only hope for Bengal to come out with flying colours from this game was Sourav Ganguly. The left-hander, in his hour-long stay at the crease, was confidence personified playing some handsome off-drives. He looked in good nick and shots came fluently. Jhunjhunwala, playing his second Ranji game, was already been dropped by Dinesh Kaarthick, yet played some firm strokes.

Bengal would need to average a little over four runs per over to make a match out of this encounter. "Bengal stand no chance of winning this game,'' asserted Badani. Dedicating this season's highest knock to his wife Sulochana, Badani said Bengal at best could draw the game. "Sourav has to play a big part if Bengal wants to draw the game,'' he said and added, "No other Bengal batsman has the capability to change the course of this match.''

Badani was involved in three century partnerships though he was dropped once in 60s, once in 90s and twice after getting the century. He and Sriram added 107 runs for the fourth wicket. Then he and Vasudevadas put on 126 for the sixth wicket and the unfinished eighth wicket pair added 112 runs.

At Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh was on the brink of victory over Hyderabad after dominating day three of the Ranji Trophy match on Thursday.

The host needs only 26 more runs for an outright victory, and only rain can deprive UP register its first victory after Hyderabad gave it the opportunity on the penultimate day.

Andhra concedes lead

Andhra succumbed to the bowling of off-spinner Rajesh Sharma — who finished with a five-wicket haul — and left-arm spinner Dinesh Mongia to concede a 79-run first innings lead to Punjab in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Thursday.

Andhra made 237 in its first innings, and at close of third day's play, Punjab was 98 for three.

The scores:

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 218.

Bengal — 1st innings: 145.

Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: A. Kapoor lbw b Paul 18, S. Sriram b Paul 96, S. Badrinath c A. Das b Ganguly 17, S. Sharath lbw b Ganguly 1, H. Badani (not out) 157, R. Satish c Das b Paul 0, K.S. Vasudevadas (run out) 62, D. Kaarthick b Lahiri 0, M.R. Srinivas (not out) 41. Extras (b-3, lb-9, w-10, nb-9): 31. Total (for seven wickets decl. in 105 overs): 423.

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-72, 3-76, 4-183, 5-184, 6-310, 7-311.

Bengal bowling: Paul 18-1-95-3, Bose 20-4-79-0, Ganguly 14-3-32-2, Dinda 18-1-69-0, Lahiri 20-0-98-1, Gavaskar 13-3-34-0, Jhunjhunwala 2-0-4-0.

Bengal — 2nd innings: A. Das c Vasudevadas b Jesuraj 1, S. Pal c Badrinath b Jesuraj 0, A. Jhunjhunwala (batting) 34, S. Lahiri c Mahesh b Jesuraj 39, S. Ganguly (batting) 25. Extras (lb-5, nb-5): 10. Total (for three wkts. in 24.1 overs): 109.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-10, 3-51.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Jesuraj 8-0-41-3, Shrinivas 7-1-37-0, Satish 4.1-2-3-0, Mahesh 4-0-23-0, Kapoor 1-1-0-0.

Other scores: Elite group: At Ahmedabad: Gujarat 200 and 190 for eight in 74.5 overs (Niraj Patel 72, Ramesh Powar five for 49) vs Mumbai 207 in 97 overs (Amol Muzumdar 64, J. Makla four for 25).

At Bangalore: Karnataka 283 and 196 for five in 75 overs (Sujith Somasunder 54, Thilak Naidu 44 batting) vs Delhi 258 in 91.3 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 82, Aakash Chopra 84, Virender Sehwag 56, Sunil Joshi six for 73).

At New Delhi: Maharashtra 237 and 91 for three in 47 overs vs. Railways 140 in 71.4 overs (Munaf Patel six for 50)

Baroda 449 for four decl. in 115 overs (Pinal Shah 217 not out, Rakesh Solanki 107, Jacob Martin 53 not out) vs Services 194 for three in 59.2 overs (M.P. Reddy 51, Jasvir Singh 63 batting).

At Visakhapatnam: Punjab 316 and 98 for three in 33 overs vs Andhra 273 in 95.4 overs (M.S.K. Prasad 72, Venugopala Rao 78, Rajesh Sharma five for 61).

At Lucknow: Hyderabad 142 and 227 in 77.4 overs (Arjun Yadav 49, Piyush Chawla five for 37) vs. Uttar Pradesh 340 and four for no loss.

Plate group: Tripura 163 and 203 beat Himachal Pradesh 80 and 156 in 89.2 overs (Rajib Nayyar 48, Nishant Verma 41, Vineet Jain seven for 29).

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