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Captain Saurabh Tiwary scored 93 runs while Kumar Kushagra scored 50 runs to guide Jharkhand into the Ranji Trophy play-offs to a two-wicket win over Tamil Nadu in their last Elite Group H match here on Sunday.
Despite the win, Jharkhand finished with the lowest score among the eight elite group toppers and will now take on plate toppers Nagaland in a one-off pre-quarterfinals here from March 12.
Group E toppers Uttarakhand and Jharkhand (Group H) finished with 12 points each, but the former advanced directly to the quarterfinals on the basis of a better quotient of 1.424.
Jharkhand needed just 104 runs with six wickets on the final day to oust Chhattisgarh from the top of the group and reached their target with two wickets in 80.4 overs riding on valuable innings from captain Tiwary and Kushagra.
Chasing 212 for an outright victory, Jharkhand posted 102 for four in 39 overs at the end of the game on Saturday, with Tiwary 41 and Kushagra giving them company for 25.
The duo resumed their innings in a confident manner on Sunday and added 90 runs for the fifth wicket to take Jharkhand closer to the target and were bowled out for 50.
Kushagra made his fifty in 121 balls with the help of just five fours.
Tiwary, on the other hand, looked solid and was determined to keep his side over the line but was just two runs off the target after scoring 93. His runs came off 193 balls, during which he hit six fours and a four. Six.
Rahul Shukla (14 not out) completed the formalities for Jharkhand as they finished at the top of the table with a full six points from the match.
For Tamil Nadu, the trio of Baba Aparajith (2/27), Ravi Srinivasan Sai Kishore (2/47) and Manimaran Siddharth (2/48) took six wickets.
Dhul hits first double century, Delhi disappoints Chhattisgarh
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In the second Group H match, rising batting star Yash Dhull hit his maiden first-class double century, while Dhruv Shourie, who had already crashed out of the knockout race, scored his maiden first-class double century, which saw Chhattisgarh’s 396 for two declared in 89. Broke the expectations of runs.
3 overs in his second innings after follow-on.
Dhul, captain of India’s recently under-19 World Cup winning team, playing his maiden Ranji season, shined with the bat by scoring an unbeaten 200 off 261 balls to prove his credentials once again.
He hit 26 fours during his innings and combined with Shourie (100 off 208 balls, 13×4 runs) to put on a 246-run stand for the opening stand to take the match away from Chhattisgarh.
Delhi batsmen played well in the second innings with Nitish Rana (56 not out in 36 balls, 3×4, 5×6 runs) and Kshitij Sharma (26).
Jharkhand topped Group H with 12 points from three matches – two wins and one loss, while Chhattisgarh finished second with 10 points.
Tamil Nadu was third with six points, well below Delhi, which managed to garner just two points from a disappointing campaign for them.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu: 285 and 152 all out in 54.
2 overs (Baba Inderjit 52; Rahul Shukla 5/29) vs Jharkhand: 226 and 214 for 80 runs.
4 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 93, Kumar Kushagra 50; Baba undefeated 2/27).
Chhattisgarh: 482 for 9 declared in 145 overs (Amandeep Khare 156 not out, Shashank Singh 122, Ajay Mandal 63; Vikas Mishra 6/124) vs Delhi: 295 all out and 396 for 2 in 89 declared.
3 overs (Yash Dhul 200 not out, Dhruv Shourie 100; Sumit Ruikar 1/56).