Malik takes three, Himachal sniff win against Tamil Nadu

Dharamshala: Vikramjit Malik was star performer for Himachal Pradesh with his three-wicket haul as their Ranji Trophy Super League match against Tamil Nadu is heading towards an exciting finish.

After taking a 73-run first innings lead, Himachal had reduced Tamil Nadu to 199 for five with S Badrinath (41) and Yo Mahesh (1) at the crease at stumps on day three.

Malik accounted for Srikkanth Anirudha (72), Abhinav Mukund (27) and rival skipper Dinesh Karthik (0) to take his match tally to six.

Tamil Nadu have a lead of 126 runs with five wickets in hand and the visitors would hope Badrinath and Mahesh would help them avoid a second successive defeat.

Tamil Nadu had lost their previous match to Punjab in Mohali.

Earlier, resuming the proceedings at 291 for four, the hosts batsmen failed to score big and were bowled out for 366 to settle for a 73-run lead.

Overnight batsman Mukesh Sharma (78) fell to pacer Chandrasekar Ganpathy after adding just 10 runs to his score but his partner Kuldeep Diwan contributed 31.

Tamil Nadu started their second innings on a confident note and with Anirudha and Mukund putting on a 62-run stand.

However the script changed after Malik drew the first blood by dismissing Mukund.

Brief Scores:

TN: 293/8 dec and 199 for 5

Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 366 all out.

PTI