Despite Kapoor's heroics, Tamil Nadu face tough task

Despite some splendid bowling by former Indian off spinner Aashish Kapoor, Tamil Nadu were badly placed at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Baroda at the Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation ground in Baroda on Saturday. After conceding a first innings lead of 139, Tamil Nadu did well to dismiss Baroda for 184 in their second innings thanks in the main to Kapoor who finished with seven for 59 off 23 overs. However, requiring 324 for a win, Tamil Nadu at stumps were facing defeat having made but 50 for three wickets.

An action packed day started with Tamil Nadu medium pacers Mahesh and Shrinivas dismissing Satyajit Parab (0) and Himanshu Jadhav (2). Opener Connor Williams, who was in an aggressive mood, was finally stumped by Reuben Paul off Kapoor for 47. Williams faced 70 balls and hit nine of the to the ropes. Kapoor then took wickets at regular intervals and Baroda at one stage were 90 for seven. However Indian stumper Nayan Mongia held firm and he and Rakesh Patel (39) shared a vital stand of 66 runs for the eighth wicket which came off 15 overs. Patel was finally caught by Vidyut off Kapoor after facing 55 balls and hitting five fours and a six. The end of the innings came shortly afterwards but Mongia remained unbeaten with a fighting 61. He faced 97 balls and hit six fours and a six.

Tamil Nadu started their tough task on a wrong footing with S Badrinath falling leg before to Patel off the first ball of the innings. Skipper Sridharan Sriram (25) and Hemanth Kumar (18 not out) added 35 careful runs off 17.3 overs but then Ajit Bhoite struck two blows in quick succession to have the visitors reeling. First, he had Sriram caught by Patel and then he had prolific run getter Sharath caught by Mongia for one. Hemanth Kumar and T Kumaran (3) played out the remaining overs till stumps but Tamil Nadu, still needing 274 runs for victory with seven wickets intact, face a herculean task tomorrow.