Tamil Nadu stuttered for a short period before recovering to shut Vidarbha out of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the SMS Stadium here on Thursday. By close, having garnered 193 for six in its second innings, Tamil Nadu was 337 runs ahead with a day to go.
Swapnil Bandiwar raised possibility of a twist in the tale by striking thrice to rock Tamil Nadu early in the second innings.
But Vidarbha, which had managed 259 after resuming at 206 for six, was handicapped by the absence of left-arm seamer Shrikant Wagh, who has to sit out with a muscle strain.
“He was in severe pain and I didn’t want to push him,” said Vidarbha coach Paras Mhambrey.
A first-innings lead of 144 runs may have caused complacency in the Tamil Nadu camp, and it lost M. Vijay, B. Aparajith and Abhinav Mukund to Bandiwar, who kept the ball up bowling stump-to-stump.
Vijay played early and drove the ball back while Aparajith and Abhinav were trapped in front, both failing for the second time in this match.
Tamil Nadu was resuscitated by Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar who put on 89.
Karthik was his busy self looking to score briskly, his aggressive intent causing no little anxiety in his own dressing room.
Runs came in a flurry as Vijay Shankar too prospered at the other end, opening up to produce some exquisite shots.
Karthik’s 64 (107 balls, 10x4) was cut short by a catch at the wicket while Vijay Shankar, who revelled in making 82 (146 balls, 8x4, 3x6), ran himself out when in sight of his second century of the match.
R. Prasanna was run out too, for the second time, but Vidarbha’s further progress was stalled by B. Indrajith and R. Malolan, who remained umbeaten at stumps, with Tamil Nadu on course for a semifinal clash with Maharashtra.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 403.
Vidarbha — 1st innings: Faiz Fazal c Prasanna b Crist 15, Sachin Katariya c Balaji b Malolan 42, Ganesh Satish b Crist 0, S. Badrinath c Karthik b Prasanth 40, Shalabh Shrivastava c & b Crist 39, Ravi Jangid c Karthik b Balaji 26, Urvesh Patel b Balaji 31, Shrikant Wagh lbw b Malolan 32, Rakesh Dhurv c Balaji b Prasanth 5, Swapnil Bandiwar (not out) 1, Ravi Thakur b Malolan 11, Extras (b-1, lb-6, nb-4, w-1, pen-5) 17; Total (in 105.2 overs) 259.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-21, 3-93, 4-132, 5-146, 6-206, 7-217, 8-240, 9-247.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Prasanth Parameswaran 26-9-50-2, L. Balaji 24-9-68-2, Aswin Crist 18-7-56-3, Vijay Shankar 6-0-24-0, Malolan Rangarajan 24.2-11-42-3, B. Aparajith 7-4-7-0.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings : Abhinav Mukund lbw b Bandiwar 1, M. Vijay c & b Bandiwar 16, B. Aparajith lbw b Bandiwar 0, Dinesh Karthik c Patel b Jangid 64, Vijay Shankar run out 82, R. Prasanna run out 17, B. Indrajith (batting) 6, Malolan Rangarajan (batting) 3, Extras (b-1, lb-1, nb-2) 4; Total (for six wkts in 73 overs) 193.
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-17, 3-26, 4-115, 5-180, 6-184.
Vidarbha bowling: Ravikumar Thakur 12-4-36-0, Swapnil Bandiwar 11-4-31-3, Faiz Fazal 7-1-14-0, Rakesh Dhurv 25-5-66-0, Ravi Jangid 14-3-33-1, S. Badrinath 4-1-11-0.
