Sai Kishore's hat-trick helps Tamil Nadu beat Uttarakhand by an innings and 66 runs in Ranji Trophy

Tamil Nadu beat Uttarakhand by an innings and 66 runs in the second round of the Ranji Trophy 2026-27. The hero of the win was Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore, who took six wickets in the second innings, including a hat-trick.

Uttarakhand made 134 in the first innings. In reply, Tamil Nadu added 313 and took a strong lead of 179 runs. Uttarakhand were then bowled out for just 113 in the second innings. Sai Kishore's bowling proved so potent that Uttarakhand lost their last five wickets for under 10 runs, and the whole side collapsed under pressure.

In the 43rd over of Uttarakhand's second innings, Sai Kishore completed the hat-trick by taking three wickets off three consecutive balls. In it he dismissed Lakshya Raichandani, Saurabh Rawat and Aditya Rawat. Aarav Mahajan, Jagadeesh Suchith and Devendra Singh Bora were also among his victims. His second-innings figures were 6 wickets for 34 runs, while Ajith Ram took four wickets for 33 runs. Sai Kishore had also taken four wickets in the first innings, taking his match tally to 10.

The list of Tamil Nadu bowlers to take a hat-trick in Ranji Trophy history is short, and Sai Kishore is now its eighth name. B. S. Kalyanasundaram was the first, in 1972-73. Bharat Arun (1986-87), Sunil Subramaniam (1992-93), Damodaran Devanand (1998-99), R. Ramkumar (2003-04) and M. Mohammed (2018-19) followed with hat-tricks. Last season, 2025-26, Gurjapneet Singh took three wickets in three balls against Nagaland. In the current 2026-27 season, Sai Kishore repeated the feat against Uttarakhand and added his name to this select list.

Sai Kishore is the second bowler to take a hat-trick this season. In the first round, Mumbai's Tushar Deshpande took one against Chhattisgarh. In that match Tushar took five wickets in just seven overs.