Tamil Nadu-Kerala match drawn

Tamil Nadu and Kerala settled for a draw after an interesting final day's play in the KSCA Coca Cola Under-25 Tournament at the Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodayar Sports Complex in Bangalore on Saturday.

Resuming their first innings at 169 for 3 on the final day in reply to Tamil Nadu's 446, Kerala lost centurion C Sanju (120) in the fifth over of the day. Three overs later wicketkeeper VG Nair (2) departed when he offered a catch to P Raju off Dhandapani. Then S Ramakrishnan (25), CM Shyam (10), S Mathen (34) tried to hold the fort. But with Ramakrishnan retiring hurt and PV Rajesh being absent hurt, the Kerala innings folded up at 223.

Tamil Nadu enforced the follow on but the Kerala batsmen stood their ground well the second time around. Opening batsmen CM Deepak (36) and C Sanju (29) put on a sedate 34 runs in 17.2 overs. Sanju was the only batsman to be dismissed when he offered a return catch to Velmurugan. skipper KPK Nambiar then joined CM Deepak and added a further 86 runs to play out the rest of the overs. Rain stopped play at 16.15 hours and the match was declared a draw with Kerala 120 for one.

Tamil Nadu, on the basis of their 223-run first innings lead, picked up five points while Kerala picked up three. Tamil Nadu next take on Hyderabad in their last match from October 5 to 7.