TN scores nail-biting win

CHENNAI, DEC. 9. Holder Tamil Nadu scored a nail biting last ball win over Hyderabad to not only avoid the embarrassment of being chucked out of the race but also force a three-way tie in the Subbiah Pillai Trophy one-day tournament at the MAC stadium here on Saturday.

After Saturday's matches, host Tamil Nadu as also Hyderabad and Karnataka have six points from four outings with a match in hand for each. The last set of matches will be played on Monday which will pick the winner. A close finish is on the cards.

Tamil Nadu had to contend with Hyderabad's fine batting first particularly Vanka Pratap, who scored 107 (187m, 132b, seven 4s, four 6s) to put the visitor on a strong footing. Worse was still to come for Tamil Nadu. Chasing a target of 256 the host had just 47 overs to achieve it in having overshot the specified time in bowling its allotted 50 overs.

But steady efforts from J.R. Madanagopal (65, 88b, two 6s, five 4s) and left hander Sadagopan Ramesh (70, 82b, three 4s) kept Tamil Nadu on course. Skipper Robin Singh then added pep to the innings with a quickfire 34. Reuben Paul, who excelled with five dismissals earlier, tried to beat the pressure with a couple of big hits but everything boiled down to eight runs in the last over. Gokulakrishnan and R. Satish did the job for the home team with the latter hitting a boundary off the last ball of Laxman's over when only one run was needed.

lThe scores: Hyderabad: Daniel Manohar c Reuben Paul b M.R. Srinivas 16, Nanda Kishore c Reuben Paul b Gokulakrishnan 24, V.V.S. Laxman c Reuben Paul b S. Mahesh 1, Vanka Pratap c Balaji Rao b Gokulakrishnan 107, Vinay Kannan c Reuben Paul b Gokulakrishnan 16, Parth Satwalkar b Balaji Rao 39, M. Srinivas c Madanagopal b Balaji Rao 21, Ghouse Baba st Reuben Paul b Balaji Rao 0, Shivaji Yadav lbw b S. Mahesh 4, N.P. Singh (not out) 4, Venkatapathy Raju not out 0; Extras (b-1, lb-7, w-8, nb-8) 24; Total (for nine wkts in 50 overs) 256.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-24, 3-58, 4- 107, 5-190, 6-238, 7-239, 8-247, 9-255.

Tamil Nadu bowling: M.R. Srinivas 109-0- 49-1, S. Mahesh 10-2-37- 2, Robin Singh 10-1-59-0, D.J. Gokulakrishnan 10-0-46-3, D. Balaji Rao 10-0-57-3.

Tamil Nadu: J.R. Madanagopal c Singh b Laxman 65, S. Sharath c N.P. Singh b Raju 35, S. Ramesh c (sub) Anirudh Singh b Raju 70, S. Mahesh b Ghouse Baba 7, Robin Singh c Ghouse Baba b Raju 32, Reuben Paul c Laxman b N.P. Singh 12, D.J. Gokulakrishnan (not out) 2, Hemant Kumar c and b Laxman 2, R. Satish (not out) 10; Extras (b-2, lb-11, w-9, nb-3) 25; Total (for seven wkts in 47 overs) 260.

Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-132, 3-154, 4- 225, 5-237, 6-246, 7-250.

Hyderabad bowling: N.P. Singh 10-1-44-1, Ghouse Baba 8-0-55-1, Parth Satwalkar 9-0-41-0, Venkatapathy Raju 10-0-34-3, Shivaji Yadav 4-0-31-0, V.V.S. Laxman 8-0-42-2.

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