Ranji Trophy: Pradosh Paul’s Double-Ton, Gurjapneet’s Hat-trick Give Tamil Nadu Control Vs Nagaland

Young Pradosh Ranjan Paul achieved his first double-century, while promising left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh took a hat-trick, giving Tamil Nadu a commanding position in their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Nagaland on Sunday.

The 24-year-old left-handed Pradosh, starting from his overnight score of 156, continued his impressive performance to remain unbeaten at 201 off 314 balls, featuring 23 boundaries. Tamil Nadu captain 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 Australia A in Kanpur last month, then took a hat-trick to reduce Nagaland to 150/4, claiming all the rival wickets on the second day of the match.

Nagaland trails by 362

runs, and despite a resilient effort from batting stalwart Dega Nischal, who scored an unbeaten 80, his efforts may not be sufficient to rescue his team.

Pradosh, who had laid the foundation for Tamil Nadu’s massive total with a 307-run second-wicket partnership with opener Vimal Khumar (189) on the first day, showed no signs of fatigue after a day-long effort on Saturday.

He continued to bat cautiously, attacking only the poor deliveries, as Tamil Nadu approached the 500-run mark. The declaration provided much-needed relief for Nagaland’s bowlers, who struggled through 115 overs with little success.

The only Tamil Nadu wicket to fall on the day was teenage top-order batter C Andre Siddarth, dismissed for 65 in his 11th first-class match. Veteran batter Baba Indrajith (32 not out) and Pradosh then shared a 51-run partnership before the declaration, as Tamil Nadu added 113 runs to their overnight total of 399/2.

Nagaland soon faced the challenge of Ludhiana-born Gurjapneet, who made his Ranji debut for Tamil Nadu last year and quickly advanced due to his bounce and swing. In a devastating sixth over, he dismissed opener Sedezhalie Rupero (6), Hem Chetri (0), and captain Rongsen Jonathan (0) on consecutive balls to achieve his hat-trick, reducing Nagaland to 3/9.

He later dismissed batting stalwart Chentan Bist, further reducing Nagaland to 4/31. However, Dega Nischal and youngster Yugandhar Singh (58 not out off 161 balls) formed an unbeaten 119-run partnership, ending the day with some pride for Nagaland.

Brief Scores:

In Dimapur: Tamil Nadu 1st innings 512/3 decl in 115 overs (Vimal Khumar 189, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 201 not out, C Andre Siddarth 65, Baba Indrajith 32 not out) vs Nagaland 150 for 4 in 58 overs (Dega Nischal 80 not out, Yugandhar Singh 58 not out; Gurjapneet Singh 4/34).

In Vizianagaram: Baroda 1st innings 363 in 109 overs (Vishnu Solanki 132; Atit Sheth 86, Mahesh Pithiya 54; Kavuri Saiteja 4/71, Tripurana Vijay 3/63) vs Andhra 43 for 2 in 16 overs (Bhargav Bhatt 2/9).

In Nagpur: Jharkhand 1st innings 332 in 125.3 overs (Shikhar Mohan 60, Sharandeep Singh 69, Ishan Kishan 45; Nachiket Bhute 4/41, Praful Hinge 3/63) vs Vidarbha.

In Kanpur: Odisha 1st innings: 243 all out in 77.1 overs vs Uttar Pradesh 262 for 3 in 86 overs (Madhav Kaushik 67, Karan Sharma 83 not out, Aaradhya Yadav 80 not out).

(With PTI Inputs)