Ranji Trophy 2025/26
GROUP A
Dimapur, Oct 26: Young Pradosh Ranjan Paul completed his maiden double-century while upcoming left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh took a hat-trick as Tamil Nadu took a firm grip of their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Nagaland, here Sunday.
The 24-year-old left-handed Pradosh, batting at the overnight score of 156, resumed from where he left to score an unbeaten 201 off 314 deliveries. His knock was studded with 23 boundaries. Tamil Nadu skipper Sai Kishore declared the innings at 512 for 3 in 115 overs.
Emerging left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh, who played two unofficial ODIs for India A against the touring Australia A side in Kanpur last month, then grabbed a hat-trick to reduce Nagaland to 150/4 with the 26-year-old accounting for all the rival wickets on day two of the contest.
Nagaland are still trailing by 362 runs, and though batting stalwart Dega Nischal put up a gritty show by scoring an unbeaten 80, the 31-year-old’s efforts might not be enough to shore up his side.
Pradosh, who had laid the platform for the massive total with a 307-run second-wicket partnership with opener Vimal Khumar (189) on the opening day, did not look jaded or tired after the day-long grind on Saturday.He continued to bat with caution, and punished only the bad deliveries, as Tamil Nadu inched closer to the 500-run mark.Once the psychological edge was achieved, the declaration came much to the relief of the Nagaland bowlers, who toiled for 115 overs without much success.The only TN wicket to fall on the day was of teenaged top-order batter C Andre Siddarth, who, playing only his 11th first-class game, was dismissed for 65.Veteran batter Baba Indrajith (32 not out) and Pradosh then shared a 51-run stand before the declaration came as TN added 113 runs to their overnight total of 399/2.Nagaland soon found themselves facing the tall Ludhiana-born Gurjapneet, who made his Ranji debut for Tamil Nadu last year and has moved quickly up the cricketing ladder thanks to the bounce and swing he generates.
The soon-to-be 27 bowled a devastating sixth over where he dismissed opener Sedezhalie Rupero (6), Hem Chetri (0) and captain Rongsen Jonathan (0) off the last three balls of his over to bring up his hat-trick and reduce Nagaland to 3/9. (PTI)
