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Bombay set for outright victory

Riz Ahmed

Inspired by Sachin Tendulkar's virtuoso performance, Bombay's bowlers skittled out Tamil Nadu for 171 in their second innings to put the hosts on course for an outright victory in the Ranji Trophy semi-fnal, at the Wankhede stadium, Bombay.

At draw of stumps on Friday, the penultimate day of the match, Bombay, chasing 167 for victory, were one down for 104 with skipper Sameer Dighe (51: 77b, 8x4) and southpaw Jatin Paranjpe (27: 41b, 4x4, 1x6) at the crease.

Earlier, in the morning, Tendulkar, taking the crease with Bombay 16 short of the Hyderabad first innings aggregate of 485 and just the two tailenders -- his overnight partner Abey Kuruvilla and last man Santosh Saxena -- for company, guided Bombay to a 5-run first innings lead. He scored all the 20 runs -- which included a suave hit off mediumpacer S Mahesh that landed in the adjoining University stadium -- for Bombay in the tense and excruciating moments of the morning.

Amidst high drama, as Kuruvilla ran himself out after the addition of just two runs to the Bombay overnight score of 470, Tendulkar reconfirmed his genius to return unbeaten on a majestic 233 (565m, 334b, 21x4, 5x6), his career-best score. His effort bettered his previous high in first class cricket -- of 217 -- made in the third and final Test against New Zealand earlier this season at Ahmedabad.

The Bombay bowlers then held the stage, skittling out the psychologically-down visitors for a meagre second innings total that gave Bombay just 167 to chase for victory.

Pacemen Ajit Agarkar, Santosh Saxena and Abey Kuruvilla made early inroads in the Tamil Nadu second essay before first innings centurion Hemang Badani (63: 222m, 124b, 6x4, 1x6) and Reuben Paul (46: 98m, 70b, 4x4, 2x6) stemmed the rot with a 82-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Just three other of their batsmen entered double figures -- openers Sridharan Sriram (10) and Sadagoppan Ramesh (13), and Ashish Kapoor (19 not out) -- as Tamil Nadu collapsed inexplicably, bowled out 38 minutes after tea.

So frustrated were the visitors that they protested for almost everything with S Mahesh taking things a little further and throwing down his bat in disgust when adjudged caught behind off Santosh Saxena.

Bombay need just 63 runs more for victory and there is no stopping the 33-time champions from entering the final.

Scoreboard

Tamil Nadu (1st innings) 485
Bombay (1st innings):
S S Dighe c Reuben Paul b Mahesh 55
W Jaffer c Ramesh b Kapoor 12
J Paranjpe c Kapoor b Kumaran 15
S Tendulkar not out 233
R Pawar c Madanagopal b Kapoor 1
V Kambli c & b Mahesh 75
A Muzumdar c Singh b Sriram 47
R Powar c Sriram b Mahesh 13
A Agarkar c Madanagopal b Kapoor 13
A Kuruvilla run out (Gokulakrishna/Mahesh) 0
S Saxena c Badani b Kumaran 0
Extras (b 9, lb 7, nb 10) 26
Total (all out, 152 overs, 733 mins) 490
Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Jaffer, 20.6 ov), 2-77 (Paranjpe, 35.6 ov), 3-120 (Dighe, 49.5 ov), 4-127 (Pawar, 54.1 ov), 5-266 (Kambli, 89.4 ov), 6-391 (Muzumdar, 122.5 ov), 7-412 (Powar, 127.3 ov), 8-449 (Agarkar, 142.2 ov), 9-472 (Kuruvilla, 148.2 ov), 10-490 (Saxena, 151.6 ov).
Bowling: Kumaran 26-7-88-2 (2nb); Mahesh 27-3-105-3; Gokulakrishna 21-7-72-0; Kapoor 29-6-93-3 (6nb); Singh 27-9- 48-0 (2nb); Sriram 22-2-68-1

Tamil Nadu (2nd innings): S Sriram c Paranjpe b Agarkar 10
S Ramesh c & b Saxena 13
H Badani run out (Jaffer) 63
J Madanagopal b Agarkar 6
S Sharath lbw Kuruvilla 1
R Singh c & b Kuruvilla 4
S Reuben Paul c Kambli b Powar 46
S Mahesh c Dighe b Saxena 0
J Gokulakrishna c Kambli b Pawar 5
A Kapoor not out 19
T Kumaran lbw b Powar 2
Extras (lb 2) 2
Total (all out, 54.1 overs, 258 mins) 171
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Ramesh, 3.1 ov), 2-28 (Sriram, 6.5 ov), 3-36 (Madanagopal, 10.3 ov), 4-39 (Sharath, 15.5 ov), 5-43 (Singh, 17.3 ov), 6-125 (Reuben Paul, 38.6 ov), 7-125 (Mahesh, 39.2 ov), 8-138 (Gokulakrishna, 42.4 ov), 9-158 (Badani, 49.5 ov), 10-171 (Kumaran, 54.1 ov).
Bowling: Agarkar 16- 1- 37- 2; Saxena 8- 1- 35- 2; Kuruvilla 7- 2- 16- 2; Powar 9.1-2-19-2; Pawar 14- 0- 62- 1;

Bombay (2nd innings) (target: 167 runs)
S Dighe not out 51
W Jaffer c Ramesh b Kapoor 15
J Paranjpe not out 27
Extras (b 5, lb 2, nb 4) 11
Total (1 wicket, 27 overs) 104
To Bat: VG Kambli, AA Muzumdar, SR Tendulkar, AB Agarkar, A Kuruvilla, SR Saxena, RV Pawar, RR Powar.
Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Jaffer, 13.6 ov).
Bowling: Kumaran 3- 0- 10- 0; Mahesh 4- 3- 6- 0; Gokulakrishna 2- 1- 2- 0; Kapoor 8- 1- 46- 1 (4nb); Sriram 8- 1- 28- 0; Badani 2- 0- 5- 0

Day 3