Former champions, Tamil Nadu were on course to achieve their first win in four matches as Saurashtra were 28 for 3 at close in reply to the host's huge first innings total of 531 for two declared on the second day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Super League in Chennai on Sunday.
As Saurashtra were reeling under pressure, bad light came to their rescue as the umpires K Hariharan (Delhi) and Sanjeev Rao (Indore) called off play about an hour before the scheduled close.
At close, Saurashtra's dependable batsman, Cheteswar Pujara (9) and Pratik Mehta (0) were at the crease.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu opener M Vijay highlighted the day's proceedings with an individual double hundred plus score and K Srivasudeva Das achieved his maiden Ranji century. Captain Badrinath, the lone Tamil Nadu victim, was out being caught by Jobanputra at long off of Rakesh Dhruv. He had 61 (6 fours and a six).
Vijay, highest scorer for Tamil Nadu in the last season and who could not find his rhythm in the earlier three matches against Maharashtra, Mumbai and Karnataka, struck a purple patch and stuck to the wicket for 632 minutes in making an unbeaten 203. His 443 ball effort contained 21 fours and 7 sixes.
Das on his part was a solid foil to Vijay and the hosts' scheme of things as he too went about the leather hunt in making 103 not out of 114 balls (13 fours and a six).
Tamil Nadu bowlers, Yeo Mahesh, Amarnath and Ram Kumar took a wicket each in Saurashtra's innngs.
Tamil Nadu (1st Innings):
A Mukund c K Makwana b S Maniar 120
M Vijay not out 230
S Badrinath c Jobanputra b R Dhruv 61
K Srivasudeva Das not out 103
Extras: (B-7, Lb-4, Nb-4, W-2) 17
Total: (for 2 wkts in 151 overs) 531
Fall of wickets: 1-256, 2-363
Bowling: S Jobanputra 23-3-59-0, S Maniar 18-3-67-1, R Dhruv 34-3-121-1, R Jadeja 45-7-136-0, K Makwana 20-3-77-0, C Pujara 2-0-8-0, S Kotak 3-0-10-0, J Shah 4-0-22-0, P Mehta 2-0-20-0
Saurashtra (1st Innings):
K Vaghela c and b Ramkumar 1
S Jgiyani c Gopinath b Amarnath 0
S Kotak b Yeo Mahesh 12
C Pujara batting 9
P Mehta batting 0
Extras: (NB-5, W-1) 6
Total: (for 3 wkts in 13 overs) 28
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-21
Bowling: Yeo Mahesh 7-2-28-1, Amarnath 4-4-0-1, Ramkumar 2-2-0-1