It took just six overs of Nagaland's first innings for Gurjapneet Singh to carve his name into Tamil Nadu's cricketing history. The left-arm pacer became only the seventh bowler from the State to claim a Ranji Trophy hat-trick, achieving the feat on day two of their encounter at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Grounds here on Sunday.

In a sensational spell, Gurjapneet tore through Nagaland's top order. He began by uprooting opener Sedezhalie's stumps with a searing delivery. Hem was next, undone by a delivery that pitched back of a length and found the outside edge. The best of the lot came when skipper R. Jonathan was drawn into a tentative poke at one just outside off, only to edge it to the slips. In a blink, Nagaland was reeling at nine for three.

Gurjapneet returned later to flatten Chetan Bist's stumps, tightening TN's early grip. But Nagaland's resistance took shape through D. Nischal and Yugandhar Singh, who weathered the storm with patience and composure.

The pair batted with maturity and steadied the innings with an unbroken 119-run fifth-wicket stand. Nischal was the aggressor, playing gorgeous drives through the off side and crisp flicks through the on, while Yugandhar anchored with calm assurance. The duo carried Nagaland past the 100-run mark.

As Yugandhar grew in confidence, he stepped out to loft left-arm spinner D.T. Chandrasekar over long-on for a towering six. Nothing could break the pair's focus as they not only survived but thrived over two sessions, taking Nagaland to 150 for four at stumps without further damage.

Earlier, overnight batters Pradosh Ranjan Paul (201 n.o., 314b, 23x4) and Andre Siddharth (65, 93b, 10x4) began positively, finding the fence regularly to add 71 runs in the first hour. A well-directed short ball finally ended their 124-run third-wicket stand when Andre top-edged one, soon after which Pradosh reached a superb double hundred to take Tamil Nadu to 512 for three before declaring.

Published on Oct 26, 2025

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