Ranji Trophy: Vimal, Pradosh lead Tamil Nadu’s strong reply against Baroda

Spectacular knock: Vimal peppered the boundary with 13 fours and two sixes.
| Photo Credit:
E. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN

R. Vimal Khumar couldn’t have asked for a better stage to close out his second season in First Class cricket.

The conditions were tailor-made for batting.

The pitch was flat, the bowlers wearied at the end of a long season, and there wasn’t much pressure, given it was an inconsequential game for both teams.

And the 23-year-old made full use of the opportunity, scoring a fine 182 (334b, 13×4, 2×6) to help Tamil Nadu take the first-innings lead against Baroda on the penultimate day of the final Ranji Trophy league match (Elite Group A) at the Salem Cricket Foundation Ground here on Saturday.

While the surface aided the batters, that did nothing to diminish the quality of Vimal’s knock or the discipline with which he constructed his innings.

Resuming at 118 for no loss, Tamil Nadu ended the day on 411 for seven, ahead by 36 runs.

The hosts lost overnight batter S.R. Athish in the second over, but Vimal and Pradosh Ranjan Paul (80) went about overhauling Baroda’s total of 375 in a calm and serene manner.

The opener got going by flicking Atit Sheth for a boundary and was then content to keep the scoreboard ticking thereafter.

Pradosh, meanwhile, was more flamboyant, finding the fence a few times while also flirting with danger.

Even as he late-cut and drove the spinners confidently, he repeatedly looked to execute the reverse-sweep clumsily and kept getting out of shape.

Vimal brought up his second century in style by stepping out to loft Ninad Rathva over his head.

The two left-handed batters added 144 for the second wicket before Pradosh gifted his wicket, when he attempted another reverse and lost his balance to be stumped.

After crossing the three-figure mark, Vimal hunkered down again even as the rest of the batters failed to build on their starts.

By the time he was dismissed, bowled around his pads by Bhargav Bhatt, he had done his job and brought the team within 19 runs of taking the lead.

The scores:

Baroda —1st innings: 375

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: S.R. Athish lbw b Pithiya 43, R. Vimal Khumar b Bhatt 182, Pradosh Ranjan Paul st. More b Pithiya 80, C. Andre Siddarth b Rathva 7, G. Ajitesh c Rawat b Bhatt 15, Nidhish S Rajagopal (batting) 31, R. Sonu Yadav c Atit b Pithiya 15, R. Sai Kishore lbw b Pithiya 18; Extras (b-13, lb-4, nb-3): 20; Total (for seven wkts. in 126 overs): 411.

Fall of wickets: 1-125, 2-269, 3-284, 4-321, 5-356, 6-376, 7-411.

Baroda bowling: Babashafi 10-0-25-0, Pithiya 42-8-110-4, Bhatt 28-3-118-2, Atit 12-1-41-0, Rathva 26-2-73-1, Jyotsnil 7-0-25-0, Pandey 1-0-2-0.