Porvorim, Feb 6:
Suresh Lokeshwar (52) and Pradosh Ranjan Paul (65) struck half-centuries to help Tamil Nadu complete the formalities and win their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Goa by seven wickets, here on Monday.
TN needed to score just 76 runs for the win after ending Day 3 on 61 for 1 from 26 overs.
Overnight batters Lokeshwar and Paul completed their fifties but left the task of taking the team home to Baba Indrajith (7 not out) and Vijay Shankar (13 not out), as TN reached 142 for 3 in 49.5 overs chasing 137. Lokeshwar added 18 runs to his overnight score of 34 and he struck six fours during his 129-ball knock.
Paul, on the other hand, was able to add 43 runs on the final day after resuming on 22. He decorated his 125-ball innings with six fours.
For Goa, Darshan Misal took two wickets while Suyash Prabhudessai got one.
Arjun Tendulkar returned wicketless in the match, returning 2-0-5-0 in the Tamil Nadu’s second innings after 10-0-52-0 in the first. He had made 1 and 8 with the bat.
TN collected six points from the win to take the top spot in Group C while Goa got none.
In Chandigarh, the match between the home side and Punjab ended in a draw as there was no play possible on the fourth and final day, which also was the case on the third day.
Punjab had made 477 for 2 from 107 overs in the first two days with Anmolpreet Singh remaining not out of 205 while Prabhsimran Singh was also unbeaten on 171. Naman Dhir made 85.
Both Punjab and Chandigarh got one point each from the match.
On Sunday, Karnataka eked out a nervy one-wicket win over Railways in Surat while Tripura beat Gujarat by 156 runs in Ahmedabad.
