Tamil Nadu retained their place in the Elite Group of the Ranji Trophy national cricket championship with an outright win over former champions Baroda in Chennai on Saturday.

But the hosts nearly conspired to lose as they made heavy weather of a meagre target before eventually emerging winners by a two-wicket margin on the last day of the four-day game in Group 'A' at the Guru Nanak College ground.

Chasing a target of 116 and needing 87 runs from 90 overs with nine wickets on hand, Tamil Nadu developed cold feat when in sight of victory, tumbling from 101-4 to 108-8.

The win gave Tamil Nadu four points that took their tally to eight, one more than Haryana, to avert relegation.

Tamil Nadu had gone into the match with only four points and were at the bottom of the table.

Baroda, who topped the group with 17 points, had alreay ensured their semifinal berth.

Earlier, captain Badrinath and R Satish added 37 runs for the fifth wicket to help Tamil Nadu recover from 64-4 after resuming the day at 26 for one.

Badrinath (22) and Satish (33) resisted the Baroda attack even as other six batsmen failed to make double-digit scores.

Off spinner Yusuf Pathan wreaked havoc while returning with figures of 6-47.

Scorecard

Baroda (First innings) 263

Tamil Nadu (First innings) 342

Baroda (Second innings) 191

Tamil Nadu (Second innings)
Dinesh Karthick lbw Irfan Pathan 4
M Vijay c Himanshu Jadav b Yusuf Pathan 23
R Prasanna c Ajit Bhoite b Yusuf Pathan 14
S Badrinath c Rajesh Pawar b Yusuf Pathan 22
Hemang Badani c Himanshu Jadav b Yusuf Pathan 2
R Satish lbw Yusuf Pathan 33
S Sharath c Jacob Martin b Ajit Bhoite 0
S Vidyuth lbw Yusuf Pathan 0
R Aswin not out 3
C Ganapthy not out 5
Extras: (b-4, lb-6) 10

Total (for 8 wkts in 34.2 overs) 116

Fall of Wkts: 1-4, 2-37, 3-56, 4-64, 5-101, 6-108, 7-108, 8-108.

Bowling: Irfan Pathan 9-0-32-1, Rakesh Patel 6-3-6-0, Yusuf Pathan 15-2-47-6, Rajesh Pawar 3-0-16-0, Ajit Bhoite 1.2-1-5-1.