Ranji Trophy: Jalaj Saxena's hundred, Naman Ojha's fifty cornerstone of Madhya Pradesh's reply against Tamil Nadu

Indore: Experienced campaigner Jalaj Saxena completed his 11th first class hundred but the Madhya Pradesh middle and lower order struggled to resist as Tamil Nadu walked away with three points from the drawn Ranji Trophy match, here on Sunday.

Replying to visitors' massive 596 for nine declared, Madhya Pradesh were all out for 407 despite openers putting on 213 for the first wicket.

Starting at overnight 181 for no loss, Saxena and his opening partner Aditya Shrivastava (90) batted for some time together before left-arM spinner denied the latter a century by trapping him.

After that Saxena completed his hundred but could not last long and host' batting line up crumbled. Only wicket- keeper batsman Naman Ojha (87) fought well but others fared poorly.

Saxena's 124 came off 250 balls with 19 boundaries. Aswin Crist was the most successful bowler for Tamil Nadu, taking four for 88.

Apart from the two openers and Ojha, the next best scorer for Madhya Pardesh was Udit Birla, who scored 18 off 31 balls.

Brief Scores:

Tamil Nadu 1st innings 596/9 declared in 202.2 overs

Madhya Pradesh 1st innings 407 all out in 141.3 overs (J Saxena 124, A Shrivastava 90, N Ojha 87; A Crist 4/88, L Vignesh 2/81).