Tamil Nadu crushes Kerala

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI, DEC. 11. Tamil Nadu crushed Kerala by six wickets with 26 overs to spare in its final league match of the Subbiah Pillai contest at the ICL-Gurunank ground here on Monday, but the effort was not good enough to earn the home team the trophy.

Only Prashant C. Menon offered resistance with 64 (110b, 5x4s), as Kerala was bundled out for 184. Sadogopan Ramesh, who led the team in the absence of an injured Robin Singh, was the wrecker-in-chief with five for 31 bowling off- spin.

Tamil Nadu then went hell for leather in its bid to boost its net run-rate. Sridharan Sharath provided the thrust with a 34-ball 32, and then J.R. Madanagopal (81, 71b, 7x4, 1x6) along with wicket-keeper batsman Reuban Paul (46, 46b, 4x4, 1x6) raised 117 runs in a blazing second wicket stand to take Tamil Nadu to the doorstep of victory, which was duly achieved.

Tamil Nadu ended its campaign with eight points from five matches, while Kerala finished with four.

The scores:

Kerala: M.P. Sorab c D.J. Gokulakrishnan b T. Kumaran 9; C. Sanju lbw b D.J. Gokulakrishnan 29; Prashanth C. Menon c & b S. Ramesh 64; Sunil Oasis c Vasanth Saravanan b S. Ramesh 31; C. Chandrasekara (run out) 13; Sanjay Mohan (run out) 2; K.N. Anatapadmanabhan c W.D. Balaji Rao b S. Ramesh 8; Sreekumar Nair (not out) 4; Harikrishnan c Rueban Paul b D.J. Gokulakrishnan 0; Tinu Yohanan b S. Ramesh 0; Mohammed Fazil c W.D. Balaji Rao b S. Ramesh 0; Extras (lb-6, w-9, nb-5) 21; Total (all out in 47 overs) 184.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-81, 3-134, 4- 156, 5-161, 6-175, 7-175, 8-176, 9-184.

Tamil Nadu bowling: T. Kumaran 10-1-24- 1; S. Mahesh 7-0-27-0; D.J. Gokulakrishnan 10-0-43-2; S. Vasanth Saravanan 1-0-9-0; W.D. Balaji Rao 6-0-20-0; S. Satish 6-0-23-0; S. Ramesh 7-0-31-5.

Tamil Nadu: J.R. Madanagopal c Chandrasekara b Tinu Yohanan 81; S. Sharath lbw b K.N. Anantapadmanabhan 32; Reuban Paul st. Harikrishnan b C. Sanju 46; S. Mahesh c M. Fazil b C. Sanju 7; D.J. Gokulakrishnan (not out) 4; R. Satish (not out) 0; Extras (b-1, lb-5, w-2, nb-7) 15; Total (for four wkts. in 24 overs) 185.

Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-169, 3-179, 4- 181.

Kerala bowling: Tinu Yohanan 9-0-37-1; Mohammed Fazil 4-0-48-0; Prashanth C. Menon 1-0-14-0; K.N. Anantapadmanabhan 3-0-30-0; Sunil Oasis 3-0-14-0; Sreekumar Nair 2-0-24-0; C. Sanju 2-0-12-0.

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