Bihar took a stranglehold of their Cooch Behar quarter final match against Tamil Nadu at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur today. Gaining the first innings lead after recovering from a precarious situation, they were in a position to press for an outright victory.

Replying to TN's 188, Bihar (overnight 62-4) slipped to 97-6 before Aamir Hashmi proceeded to rescue the innings with two valuable partnerships. He added 55 for the 7th wicket with keeper MS Dhoni (40) and then a match turning 118 for the 8th wicket with captain Vikash Kumar (65). Hashmi was last out for 94 in the 121st over as Bihar totalled 299, a healthy lead of 111. Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan who top scored with 60 for TN was in the thick of the action again, picking up the last five wickets to finish with 5-75 in 31.2 overs.

TN lost the wicket of Vikram Kumar for 8 in their second essay and finished the day at 26-1 off 7 overs, still 85 behind. V Kudawla on 13 and R Prasanna on 5 were holding the fort.

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