Virender Sehwag blazed his way through to an unbeaten 98 on Monday to rekindle slender hopes of a possible victory for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Tamil Nadu at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi.

Unfazed by the inconsitent bounce on the pitch, Sehwag drove, cut and pulled with ease to frustrate the opposition bowlers, as Delhi, chasing a daunting victory target of 333, ended day four on 159 for five.

At stumps, first innings hero N S Negi, on two, was giving company to Sehwag, after the hosts suffered yet another top order batting collapse.

With all their other recognised batsmen back in the pavilion, Delhi hopes of getting 174 more runs on the last day, Tuesday, hinge solely on Sehwag and Negi.

Sehwag stood tall even as wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end and treated the Tamil Nadu bowlers with disdain, hitting them all around the park.

His onslaught was so severe that he needed only 108 balls to compile his knock, during which hit 19 fours and a six off off-spinner D Dhandapani.

Sehwag, who missed out on the party in the first innings after being out for a fourth-ball duck, picked up captain S Suresh, spinners Dhandapani and Vidyut Shivramkrishnan for special treatment, hitting them out of the attack with some excellent shots.

Earlier, after dismissing Tamil Nadu for 261 in their second innings, which was built mainly around fine knocks of 75 not out by S Sharath and 55 by Sadgopan Ramesh, Delhi started the day on a disastrous note losing three wickets for 26 runs.

Scoreboard

Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 327

Delhi (1st innings): 256

Tamil Nadu (2nd innings):

V Sivaramakrishnan c Dahiya b Bhandari 0

S Suresh c Dahiya b Negi 35

S Sriram c Sanghvi b Gill 16

H Badani lbw Sehwag 5

S Ramesh c Dahiya b Manhas 55

S Sharath not out 75

V Saravanan c Negi b Sarandeep 34

M R Srinivas c Chopra b Negi 0

D Dhandapani c Sehwag b Sarandeep 6

L Balaji c Chopra b Bhandari 11

P Raju b Negi 14

Extras:  (lb-1, nb-8, w-1) 10

Total: (all out, 93 overs) 261

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-35, 3-43, 4-72, 51-153, 6-208, 7-209, 8-216, 9-236.

Bowling: Bhadari 14-2-61-2, Gill 17-1-48-1, Sarandeep 26-12-40-2, Sehwag 12-1-43-1, Negi 12-1-41-3, Sanghvi 10-4-23-0, Manhas 2-0-4-1.

Delhi (2nd innings):

A Chopra c Badani b Balaji 12

G Gambhir c sub (Badrinath) b Balaji 0

V Sehwag batting 98

M Manhas c Raju b Balaji 4

V Kumar b Dhandapani 23

V Dahiya c Suresh b Shivramkrishnan 3

N S Negi batting 2

Extras: (lb-6, b-4, w-3, nb-4) 17

Total (for 5 wkts, 38 overs) 159

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-22, 3-26, 4-96, 5-132.

Bowling: Balaji 11-2-46-3, Srinivas 8-3-22-0, Sarvanan 2-0-13-0, Suresh 6-3-29-0, Dhandapani 6-2-23-1, Sivaramakrishnan 5-1-16-1.