Aswin Crist came up with a four-wicket haul as Tamil Nadu bowled Baroda out for 149 in their last Group A Ranji Trophy league match here on Friday.
Tamil Nadu’s cautious reply saw the visitors to 77 for two at stumps.
Crist, returning to the Tamil Nadu side after one year, helped his side take control of the match as the home team was skittled out before tea.
Left-armer Prasanth Parameshwaran vindicated his selection with excellent bursts of medium-pace bowling.
The former Kerala seamer was impressive, with a lovely action, line and length, and the ability to make the ball skid off the deck.
In his 10th over, Prasanth delivered a big blow by removing opener Saurabh Wakaskar.
He struck again in the same over, forcing a foot-work error from Yusuf Pathan; the new batsman shuffled far too across and lost his leg stump.
On a helpful wicket, Tamil Nadu opted for pace over the subtleties of spin, dropping left-arm spinners Rahil Shah and Aushik Srinivas who have contributed handsomely to the spinners’ tally of 84 wickets in the first seven of Tamil Nadu’s matches.
Tamil Nadu went into the match with four seamers — Laxmipathy Balaji, Vijay Shankar, Crist and Prasanth — and reaped rewards after electing to field.
R. Prasanna and B. Aparajith were outstanding in the cordon of three slips and a gully.
The latter also held a superb two-handed catch a few metres inside the mid-wicket fence to dismiss Hardik Pandya for a defiant 47, and with it end Baroda’s first innings.
The scores:
Baroda — 1st Innings: Saurabh Wakaskar c Aparajith b Prasanth 51, Aditya Waghmode c Prasanna b Crist 4, Vishnu Solanki b Vijay Shankar 19, Hardik Pandya c Aparajith b Prasanth 47, Yusuf Pathan b Prasanth 0, Deepak Hooda lbw b Balaji 11, Irfan Pathan c Vijay Shankar b Crist 6, Swapnil Singh c Karthik b Crist 0, Pinal Shah c Prasanna b Vijay Shankar 1, Gagandeep Singh b Crist 0, Sagar Manglorkar (not out) 0, Extras (lb-4, nb-6) 10; Total (in 50.3 overs) 149.
Fall of wkts: 1-12, 2-62, 3-99, 4-99, 5-120, 6-135, 7-135, 8-138, 9-149.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Prasanth Parameswarn 14.3-1-46-3, L. Balaji 13-4-32-1, Aswin Crist 13-3-40-4, Vijay Shankar 9-1-27-2, R. Malolan 1-1-0-0.
Tamil Nadu — 1st Innings: Abhinav Mukund lbw b Mangalorkar 4, M. Vijay run out 32, B. Aparajith (batting) 31, Dinesh Karthik (batting) 5, Extras (b-5) 5; Total (for two wkts in 32 overs) 77.
Fall of wkts: 1-15, 2-65
Baroda bowling: Irfan Pathan 11-2-27-0, Sagar Mangalorkar 12-3-29-1, Gagandeep Singh 7-1-14-0, Swapnil Singh 2-0-2-0.
