Tamil Nadu's S Sharath stood on the brink of his 19th Ranji hundred, as the visitors reached 252 for the loss of six wickets on the first day of the four-day Elite Group `A' Ranji trophy match against Gujarat at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, on Monday.
The left-handed Sharath, who came in when Tamil Nadu were struggling at 104 for four, cracked an unbeaten 97 with 12 boundaries and stitched a vital 87-run partnership with Vidyut Shivramakrishnan for the sixth wicket.
Besides 18 Ranji tons, the last one against Bengal, the southpaw also has five Duleep Trophy hundreds in his first-class kitty.
Vidyut also chipped in with a useful 50 off 101 balls and smashed six fours and a sixer. The left-hander reached his half century by managing to knick an outgoing delivery of Lalit Patel over the slips for four in the 87th over.
But Gujarat Skipper Mukund Parmar showed some quick reflexes to cup a very similar shot by Vidyut, just a ball later.
Earlier, the three-pronged Gujarat pace attack exploited the early morning dew to the hilt, with Shymal Bhatt removing openers Dinesh Karthik and skipper S Suresh in the 12th and 18th overs.
All three pacers -- Bhatt, Lalit Patel and Hitesh Majmudar bagged two wickets each.
The seamers maintained a good line and length to make early inroads.
Scoreboard
Tamil Nadu (1st innings):
D Karthik c N Modi c S Bhatt 31
S Suresh c N Modi b S Bhatt 5
S Badrinath b H Majmudar 35
S Vishwanathan c N Modi b L Patel 12
S Sharath batting 97
J Madangopal lbw H Majmudar 11
S Vidhyut c M Parmar b L Patel 50
S Ganesh Kumar batting 4
Extras: (b-2, lb-3, nb-1, w-1) 7
Total: (for 6 wkts in 90 overs) 252
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-47, 3-77, 4-109, 5-153, 6-240.
Bowling: L Patel 23-6-60-2, H Majmudar 21-4-58-2, S Bhatt 15-2-63-2, B Mehta 17-4-28-0, T Patel 5-0-24-0, K Damani 9-2-14-0.
