Opener Faiz Fazal led Vidarbha's strong reply with an unbeaten century as the home side put up 214 for 2 in their first innings on the third day of their Ranji Trophy group league match against Tamil Nadu in Nagpur on Monday.
Fazal was undefeated on 110 off 271 balls (19X4) as Vidarbha ended the day 229 runs short of Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 449 for eight declared at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground.
Fazal shared 151 runs with Shiv Sunder Das (62) for the opening wicket to lay a strong foundation for Vidarbha's fightback in the Group B match.
Urvesh Patel (12) was the other Vidarbha player dismissed as Tamil Nadu's bowlers, led by skipper L Balaji, failed to make any major impact on the home side batsmen.
Earlier in the morning, Tamil Nadu declared their innings at the overnight score of 449 for eight as they looked for results.
Vidarbha will require to score 230 runs on the final day with eight wickets in hand if they fancy taking the vital first innings lead which is certainly not out of their reach.
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu: 449-8 decl in 180 overs.
Vidarbha: 214-2 in 84.4 overs (Faiz Fazal 110 batting, S S Das 62; A Srinivasan 1-30).
