A double ton by S Badrinath helped Tamil Nadu to a huge score of 481 for six declared before they forced Delhi on the backfoot by taking three wickets for 85 runs on the second day of the Elite Group 'A' Ranji Trophy tie in Chennai on Wednesday.
At close, dependable batsman Mithun Minhas (26) and Aditya Jain (7) were at the crease.
Tamil Nadu medium pacer Vignesh struck the first blow dismissing opening batsman Aakash Chopra (1) in the seventh over of Delhi innings. Chopra was caught brilliantly by Dinesh Kaarthik, who dived to his left as the batsman tried to play a down-the-leg delivery to fine leg.
In the very next over, Tamil Nadu captain brought on veteran off spinner Aashish Kapoor, who in his second over sent back left handed opener Shikhar Dhawan (16, 3x4s). Dhawan played early to a turning ball and was clean bowled leaving his team at 34 for 2 in 10.2 overs. Just as the visitors seemed to recover a bit, Mayank Telhan was trapped leg before to Kapoor for 25.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu captain S Badrinath played the lead role with an unbeaten knock of 206 (428 b, 2x6s, 23x4s) before declaring the innings, with 32 overs left to be bowled in the day.
Hemang Badani added just three runs to his overnight score of 91 before being adjudged leg before to Chetanya Nanda. Badrinath was involved in three stands -- 196 for the third wicket with Badani off 383 balls, 90 for the fourth wicket with Kaarthik and 79 for the fifth with S Sharath. Karthik made 46 (6x4s, 1x6), while Sharath scored 46 (7x4s, 1x6). For Delhi, Nanda claimed three for 124 and Yogesh Sachdeva 2 for 148.
Scorecard
Tamil Nadu 1st innings (overnight 261-2)
S Sriram b Nanda 43
S Vidyut c Manhas b Rawat 6
S Badrinath not out 206
H Badani lbw b Nanda 94
D Karthik c Bhandari b Nanda 46
S Sharath c Tehlan b Sachdeva 46
K Vasudevadas c Tehlan b Sachdeva 12
R Ramkumar not out 8
Extras (b 10, lb 7, nb 3) 20
Total (6 wickets dec, 148 overs, 636 mins) 481
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-68, 3-264, 4-354, 5-433, 6-466
Bowling: Bhandari 21 6 69 0, Rawat 17 1 71 1 (2nb), Bhatia 21 7 40 0, Sachdeva 36 4 148 2 (1nb), Nanda 48 7 124 3, Jain 5 2 12 0
Delhi 1st innings
A Chopra c Karthik b Vignesh 1
S Dhawan b Kapoor 16
M Tehlan lbw b Kapoor 25
M Manhas not out 26
A Jain not out 7
Extras (b 3, lb 2, nb 5) 10
Total (3 wickets, 32 overs) 85
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-34, 3-69
Bowling: Jesuraj 4 1 10 0, Vignesh 5 1 18 1 (5nb), Kapoor 12 1 24 2, Ramkumar 11 1 28 0
