A superb spell of bowling by debutant medium pacer Rajamani Jesuraj helped Tamil Nadu take a vital 26-run first innings lead over Punjab on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match at Chennai on Wednesday.

Jesuraj, who took three wickets yesterday to leave Punjab reeling at 164 for 5, claimed four more wickets today for an innings haul of seven for 76 and was instrumental in Punjab being dismissed for 218 in 90.4 overs.

In reply, Tamil Nadu were 190 for 3 in 76 overs in their second innings, with Subramaniam Badrinath (43) and Sridharan Sharath (28) at the crease when stumps were drawn.

When play resumed this morning, Jesuraj dismissed Amit Uniyal (17) in his third over and then scalped Sandeep Sawal (1), Navdeep Singh (0) and Rajesh Sharma (1) for an enviable analysis of 8-4-26-4.

Vikram Rajvir Singh made a useful 28 and Ankur Kakkar remained unbeaten on 29.

Tamil Nadu started on a poor note with Sadagoppan Ramesh being dismissed in the very first over without scoring. Opener Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan and Sridharan Sriram then added 78 runs for the second wicket.

Vidyuth was dismissed caught by wicketkeeper Pankaj Dharmani off Navdeep Singh and was unlucky to have fallen just one run short of a deserving century. Vidyuth's 168-ball knock contained 12 boundaries.

Brief scores:

Tamil Nadu 244 and 190 for 3 in 76 overs (V Sivaramakrishnan 99, S Badrinath 43 not out, S Sharath 28 not out) vs Punjab 218 all out 90.4 overs (Ravneet Ricky 71, A Kakkar 29, V R V Singh 28, R Jesuraj 7 for 76)