Haryana snatch lead as TN collapse to 169, Vaishisht bags six

Chennai, Dec 11 (UNI) Haryana hit back strongly snatching a vital first innings lead of 118 runs as Tamil Nadu crashed to 169 in reply to the former's 287 in the Elite Group A Ranji Trophy league outing at the M A Chidambaram stadium here today.

Haryana swelled their overall lead to 149 scoring 31 without loss in 31 overs in their second innings, before play had to be called off due to bad light. Openers Sumit Sharma(15, two sixes) and A Rawat(12, two fours) were at the wicket at stumps on the third day.

It was all gloom for Tamil Nadu as their batsmen fell like nine pins, as the side resumed the innings at the overnight score of 80 for 3 hoping to build up a strong first innings score and push for an outright win.

Haryana off-spinner G Vaishisht put paid to Tamil Nadu batsmen's hopes as he struck removing overnight batsman left hander C Suresh, trapping him leg before for a Duck. Suresh was unable to open his account even after facing 19 balls off 23 minutes.

Down 4-84, the home team still had hopes of a fight with captain S Badrinath, the overnight batsman still at the crease. But medium pacer Joginder Sharma castled him for 15 (48 balls, 51 mnts, two fours) to see the team tottering at 96-5 in 33.6 overs.

Then Vaishisht continued the star turn with the ball removing R Satish (18, 34 balls, 42 mnts, one four), seasoned left hander S Sharath (34,132 balls, 152 mnts, three fours), K varun Kumar(0), R Ashwin(0) and last man R Jesuraj(5) to gain the vital first innings lead of 118 runs which could give Haryana their first two points with the match headed for draw as more rain is predicted.

Folllowing is the full Score Board: Haryana (First innings): 287 Tamil Nadu (First innings) M Vijay c Joon b Mishra 34 S Anirudha c M Rawat b Joginder Sharma 23 R Prasanna b Joginder Sharma 0 S Badrinath b Joginder Sharma 15 C Suresh lbw b Vashisht 0 R Sathish c Rana b Vashisht 18 S Sharath b Vashisht 34 K Varun Kumar b Vashisht 0 R Ashwin lbw b Vashisht 0 V Yo Mahesh (not out) 20 R Jesuraj c A Rawat b Vashisht 5 Extras (lb-1, w-1, nb-18) 20 Total 169 Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-62, 3-77, 4-84, 5-96, 6-113, 7-117, 8-117, 9-163, 10-169.

Bowling: Joginder Sharma 24-5-65-3, S Rana 4-2-13-0, A Mishra 16-5-40-1, S Budhwar 4-0-17-0, G Vashisht 25-15-24-6, Sumit Sharma 2-0-3-0, A Rawat 2-0-6-0.

Haryana (Second innings): Sumit Sharma (batting) 15 A Rawat (batting) 12 Extras (lb-1, nb-3) 4 Total (for no loss) 31 Bowling: V Yo Mahesh 3-0-10-0, R Jesuraj 4-1-12-0, R Ashwin 2-0-8-0.

UNI