Pacer Aditya Thakare picked up his sixth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, while Yash Rathod struck a half-century as Vidarbha took a commanding 297-run lead against Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Nagpur on Monday.
Thakare, whose four-wicket burst had Tamil Nadu hanging on the ropes at 159/6 on Day 2, broke the resistance of tail-ender Sonu Yadav (32) as R Sai Kishore's side were dismissed for 225 in 64.3 overs, giving Vidarbha a handsome 128-run first-innings lead.
Vidarbha, who have not lost a single match this Ranji season, overcame a difficult start to reach 169/5 at stumps for an overall lead of 297, with Rathod batting confidently on 55 (119 balls) in the company of Harsh Dubey (29 not out off 55 balls).
Tamil Nadu, who were in dire straits at 159/6 on Sunday, lost their skipper Sai Kishore (7), who could add just one run to his overnight score.
The visitors seemed to be heading for low score before Yadav played a responsible knock to take his team past the 200-run mark.
Vidarbha, who had won six and drawn a game to top their group, were off to an uninspiring start losing their first three wickets for 61 runs before India player Karun Nair struck 29 and then Rathod struck an unbeaten half-century, his sixth in first-class cricket, to guide his team to safety.
His 55-run sixth-wicket partnership with Dubey was enough to give Vidarbha a lot of confidence going into Day 4 on Tuesday.
With Tamil Nadu's top order boasting of some big names, including Narayan Jagadeesan, Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar, Vidarbha might look to add another 100 runs to be in the safe zone.
Vidarbha were off to a confident start but lost openers Atharva Taide (19), Dhruv Shorey (20) and Danish Malewar (0) in quick succession with left-arm spinner Sai Kishore accounting for the last two.
First innings centurion Nair, who has been in sublime form this season with loads of runs in the Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare, struggled for runs in the second essay before he was dismissed for 29 off 78 deliveries.
At 99/4, things could have gone downhill for Vidarbha but Rathod and Dubey played responsibly to help the team inch closer to the psychological 300-run lead.
Brief scores:
Vidarbha: 353 & 169/5 in 62 overs (Karun Nair 29, Yash Rathod 55 not out) vs Tamil Nadu: 225 all out in 64.3 overs (C Andre Siddharth 65; Pradosh Ranjan Paul 48, Sonu Yadav 32; Aditya Thakare 5/34).
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