Both Tamil Nadu and Gujarat qualified for the quarterfinals on Saturday after gaining three and one point respectively from their drawn Group A match at the Ranji Trophy here.
Kaushik Gandhi's double ton and Vijay Shankar's century helped Tamil Nadu garner three points, owing to their first innings lead, and grab the third position in the points-table of Group A. Tamil Nadu and Gujarat now are tied at 26 points, four points behind table-topper Mumbai after eight matches. Gujarat are placed second after winning two and drawing five out of the eight matches. Their game against Bengal was abandoned due to smog in Delhi.
In reply to Gujarat's first innings score of 307, Tamil Nadu scored 580 for six declared, with Gandhi and Shankar hogging the limelight by scoring 202 and 102, respectively.
The foundation, earlier, was laid by opener Abhinav Mukund who missed his century by one run after he was dismissed by R B Kalaria on second day of the match. For Gujarat, opener Priyank Panchal was the top-scorer with 113 runs.
Even Baba Aparajith joined the bonhomie by scoring a resplendent 54 off 156 balls. Soon after Tamil Nadu declared their innings, the umpires, after consulting with the captains, called off the match, which ended in a tame draw.
Delhi lose thriller
Vadodara: Delhi, one of the most heavyweight teams of the domestic circuit, today made an inglorious exit from the Ranji Trophy losing to Saurashtra by 4 runs in their final group B match.
Delhi's (21 points from 8 games) loss meant that Odisha with 22 points made it to the quarter-final along with their eastern zone neighbours Jharkhand (32) in the last eight stage of the competition. While both teams will play their final group league encounter against each other, the result of the matches will not change the position as Jharkhand and Odisha will finish second and third respectively. Karnataka (37 points) topped the group B.
Starting the day at 109 for 4, Delhi needed 167 runs on the final day to keep themselves in the hunt for a last eight berth but were all out for 271.