CHENNAI: Riding on Aditya Thakare's penetrative bowling (5/34), Vidarbha bagged a handsome first innings lead of 128 runs over Tamil Nadu on the third day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinals being played at Nagpur on Monday. Apart from Thakare, Yash Thakur and Nachiket Bhute bowled lively spells in turns to trouble the Tamil Nadu batters. They bowled in the right areas and extracted good bounce to induce the Tamil Nadu batters to commit mistakes.
Later, an unbeaten 55 by Yash Rathod came in handy for the hosts as they were able to recover from a top order collapse to post 169 for 5 in 69 overs in their second essay. Harsh Dubey lent solid support to Rathod and was batting on 29, when bails were drawn. Their effort has put Vidarbha in a commanding position with an overall lead of 297 runs.
Earlier in the morning, Tamil Nadu's hopes relied on the last recognised pair of Pradosh Ranjan Paul and Sai Kishore to stitch a partnership and reduce the deficit. But Sai Kishore fell to Thakur and soon M Mohammed also departed. Pradosh then managed to hang around with Sonu Yadav (32) and helped Tami Nadu breach the 200-run mark.
"It was a brilliant display by our attack. They were spot on and knew what lengths to bowl. Aditya used the surface to his advantage. He bowled in the right areas and could get good movement," Dubey told this daily after the day's play.
"We knew that Pradosh was the last batter for Tamil Nadu. So we were aware that the sooner we get him out bigger will be our lead. Yes, at the end of the day we have a fairly good lead," added the left-arm spinner.
One expected Vidarbha to bat better in the second essay and perhaps even bat out the opposition. But that was not to be as Sai Kishore led from the front and with an aggressive approach troubled Vidarbha's top order. He was aided in the cause by Sonu Yadav and Vijay Shankar who were accurate.
Openers Atharva Taide and Dhruv Shorey along with in-form Karun Nair all got good starts but could not convert the same. Vijay Shankar has been bowling quite a lot in the last few games and importantly has been able to give vital breakthroughs.
On Monday he surprised Nair with extra bounce as the ball kissed his glove and went to Boopathi Kumar at gully. Prize wicket indeed!. Thereafter skipper Akshay Wadkar was castled as he failed to read an arm ball from Ajith Ram. Rathod and Dubey then made sure the hosts did not suffer any hiccups.
"Definitely, we look to add another 100 runs on Tuesday. Our aim is to set a target near 400 or so. The ball is coming on to the bat, so if one applies you can get runs," added Dubey.
At stumps, the wicket still looks good and expected to lend some help to the fast bowlers on Tuesday morning. "The wicket still looks good. Fast bowlers will have some purchase in the morning, and the pitch could later assist the spinners as the day progresses. One needs to apply and play to the merit of the ball and that's what we are looking forward to," signed off Dubey.