Tamil Nadu top South Zone Ranji standings despite draw

The rain interrupted Tamil Nadu-Kerala South Zone Ranji Trophy encounter at Kochi ended in a draw even as the visiting side claimed five points after taking the first innings lead. This meant that Tamil Nadu topped the South Zone standings with 26 points ahead of Hyderabad (25) and Karnataka (24). By topping the South Zone standings, Tamil Nadu have retained the MD Soundararajan Trophy.

Resuming on 204/4, Tamil Nadu declared their innings closed at 251/9 after C Hemanth Kumar completed his century. Hemanth Kumar's 101 (423 minutes, 317 balls, 5 fours) ended as the top score of the match. CP Menon with 4/44 off 14 overs was the pick of the Kerala bowlers. Tamil Nadu gained a lead of 45 runs.

In their second essay, Kerala once again struggled against legspinner WD Balaji Rao. The former Railways tweaker claimed 4/60 as Kerala were reduced to 167/6 when the match ended. For the hosts, only MP Sorab (61) and Ajay Kudua (46) batted for some length of time.