Centuries from Sadagoppan Ramesh and Sridharan Sharath gave Tamil Nadu the vital first-innings lead, giving them five points from their drawn Ranji Trophy league match against Kerala at Chennai.

Opener Ramesh, unbeaten on an uncharacteristically slow 41 overnight, resumed in similar vein on Friday. Hitting just three fours in his knock, Ramesh made 126 off 391 balls and 62 minutes. He lost Hemang Badani soon after play resumed, but Sharath have him enough support for the pair to post 176 runs for the fourth wicket.

Sharath fell with the score on 336, having made 102 off 226 balls, hitting nine boundaries. Ramesh remained unbeaten at the close of play on Day Four, accompanied at the end by Ashish Kapoor, who made 32 not out. Tamil Nadu ended the day on 407/5, attaining second place in the South Zone league points table.

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