Published: Feb 20, 2015, 06:54 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 20, 2015, 06:54 PM (IST)
Jaipur: Tamil Nadu today sailed into the semi-finals of Ranji Trophy 2014-15 by virtue of their 144-run first innings lead over Vidarbha in the quarter-final match which ended in a draw at Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday.
Vidarbha, who were totally outplayed by Tamil Nadu, were left with a nearly impossible victory target of 411 runs on the final day of the match. They were reeling at 142 for eight in their second essay when umpires called off the match after taking consent of both the captains.
It was a mere formality for Tamil Nadu to seal their berth in the semifinals as they were already assured of a place in the last four after they made a solid 403 in first innings and then bundled out Vidarbha for 259 to snatch a 144-run first innings lead which proved to be decisive in the end.
Tamil Nadu resumed at their overnight score of 193 for six but Swapnil Bandiwar (three for 42), Ravikumar Thakur (two for 62) and Rakesh Dhurv (two for 88) restricted them to 266 all out.
Vidarbha were left with a nearly impossible target of 411 runs and were staring at outright defeat when they lost four wickets, including that of skipper S Badrinath (zero), for 68.
But, unbeaten half century by Ganesh Satish (59 not out; 131 balls, 6×4) and useful knocks by Shalabh Shrivastava (33) and Dhurv (22) saved them the blushes. They averted an outright defeat by reaching 142 for 8 when the match was called off.
For Tamil Nadu, Baba Aparajith (three for 41) was the most successful bowler while Prasanth Parmeshwaran (two for 26), L Balaji (one for 21) and Malolan Rangarajan (one for 25) were the other wicket takers.
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu 403 & 266 (Vijay Shankar 82, Dinesh Karthik 64; Swapnil Bandiwar 3 for 42) drew with Vidarbha 259 & 142 for 8 (Ganesh Satish 59*; Baba Aparajith 3 for 41).
