Chennai: Sanju Samson scored a valiant half-century as he helped Kerala fight back in its second innings against Tamilnadu in the fifth round of Ranji trophy here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium today.
Chasing a daunting target of 369, set by Tamilnadu, Kerala started the day at 27 for 1. Arun Karthick and Sijomon Joseph added 33 more runs before Sai Kishore dismissed Arun Karthick for 33.
Sanju Samson and Sijomon Joseph then built a 97 run partnership that gave the visitors upper hand in the game. Sanju Samson with a much better strike rate got to his fifty first, hitting it in 71 balls.
At lunch break, Kerala was well placed with a score of 143 for 2. Soon after lunch, Sijomon Joseph notched up his half-century.
T Natarajan, finally got the much required breakthrough for TN with the wicket off Sijomon trapping him in front when he was at 55.
Soon three wickets fell in quick succession. Rahul P was runout for a nought and skipper Sachin Babay was dismissed first ball by Natarajan.
In the next over Sai Kishore dismissed VA Jagadeesh and Kerala was staring at defeat.
Vishnu Vinod then joined hands with Samson and the pair put together a 29 run stand that as Kerala scored 195/6 before the tea break.
The bowlers will look to take the remaining four wickets in the last session to give a much-needed outright victory for Tamilnadu.