On an attritional day of motion the place each groups had their moments, Vidarbha tightened its grip on the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal towards Tamil Nadu after taking a commanding 128-run first-innings lead on day three right here on the Vidabha Cricket Affiliation Stadium on Monday.
The house crew wanted simply 90 minutes within the morning session to bundle out TN for 225, with medium-pacer Aditya Thakare finishing his first five-wicket haul of the season.
In its second essay, Vidarbha ended the day on 169 for 5, driving on Yash Rathod’s gritty unbeaten half-century (55 batting) to complete 297 runs within the lead.
Earlier, TN resumed at 159 for six and misplaced two fast wickets when skipper R. Sai Kishore and M. Mohammed perished, enjoying free pictures to pacer Yash Thakur.
Pradosh Ranjan Paul (48) and R. Sonu Yadav (32) then hit a number of boundaries and did their greatest to take their facet nearer to Vidarbha’s complete. Their 49-run stand for the ninth wicket took the southern facet previous 200 earlier than Pradosh nicked Nachiket Bhute to the cordon. Thakare fittingly accomplished the formalities, eradicating Sonu Yadav to safe the essential first-innings lead for his facet.
Needing to strike early to remain alive within the contest, the TN bowlers had been rather more disciplined and saved choosing up wickets at common intervals. Sai Kishore led the cost, giving a double breakthrough instantly after lunch.
Later, Vijay Shankar struck off the primary ball of the third session when he had Karun Nair caught at slip. And when Ajith Ram castled Akshay Wadkar with a slider, Vidarbha was in a spot at 114 for 5.
However the cushion of a cushty lead allowed Harsh Dubey to go for the counterattack and the left-hander began by slog-sweeping Sai Kishore for 2 sixes to wrest the momentum again. Whereas Dubey was aggressive, Rathod held fort at one finish and accomplished his half-century because the duo solid an unbroken 55-run alliance for the sixth wicket to maintain the customer at bay.
The scores: Vidarbha — 1st innings: 353.
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Mohamed Ali B Thakare 4, N. Jagadeesan C Taide B Bhute 22, B. Sai Sudharsan C Yash Thakur B Thakare 7, M. Boopathi Vaishna Kumar C Wadkar B Thakare 0, Vijay Shankar C Wadkar B Thakare 22, C.. and C. Taide B Dubey 65, Pradosh Ranjan Paul C Taide B Bhute 48, R. Sai Kishore c Wadkar B Yash Thakur 7, M. Mohammed C Wakhare B Yash Thakur 1, R. Sonu Yadav C Taide B Thakare 32, S. Ajith Ram ( Not out) 0; Extras (LB-6, NB-1, W-10): 17; Whole (in 64.3 overs): 225.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-36, 3-38, 4-38, 5-133, 6-136, 7-160, 8-170, 9-219.
Vidarbha bowling: Yash Thakur 16-0-78-2, Thakare 16.3-3-3-5, bhute 15-2-54-2, dubey 14-1-51-1, wakhare 3-1-2-0.
Vidarbha — 2nd innings: Atharva Taide c Boopathi b Sonu Yadav 19, Dhruv Shorey b Sai Kishore 20, Danish Malewar c & b Sai Kishore 0, Karun Nair c Boopathi b Vijay Shankar 29, Yash Rathod (batting) 55, Akshay Wadkar b Ajith Ram 8, Harsh Dubey (batting) 29; Extras (B-5, LB-2, W-2): 9; Whole (for 5 wkts. In 62 overs): 169.
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-40, 3-61, 4-99, 5-114.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Mohammed 13-5-30-0, Sonu Yadav 9-2-19-1, Sai Kishore 16-3-47-2, Vijay Shankar 10-1-20-1, Ajith Ram 8-0-24-1, Mohamed ALI 3-0-13-0, Pradosh 3-0-9-0.
Printed – February 10, 2025 08:23 pm IST
