da premier bet： Baroda has taken a firm grip on their Ranji Trophy quarterfinalagainst Tamil Nadu
Staff Reporter23-Mar-2001Baroda has taken a firm grip on their Ranji Trophy quarterfinalagainst Tamil Nadu. Shortly before stumps on the second day of thefive day game at the Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation ground inBaroda on Friday, Tamil Nadu were all out for 175 in their firstinnings in reply to the hosts’ total of 324.Tamil Nadu have only themselves to blame for their precariousposition. They failed to build upon a fine 88-run stand betweenopeners Sridharan Sriram and S Badrinath. The left handed Sriram topscored with 51 off 86 balls. Sriram, who is captaining the side in theabsence of Robin Singh, hit seven fours.Sriram fell in the 34th over and thereafter wickets fell at regularintervals. Badrinath was fourth out for a patient 38. He batted 196minutes, faced 148 balls and hit five fours. Except for S Mahesh (15),no one in the middle order reached double digits. It was not until thelast two batsmen came together that there was a semblance of apartnership with MR Shrinivas (23) and T Kumaran (13) adding 35 runsoff 17.3 overs.Baroda’s left arm spinner Valmik Buch caused most of the damage. The25-year-old veteran proved to be quite unplayable as he ripped throughthe top and the middle order. He removed both Sriram and Badrinath andthen dismissed JR Madanagopal, Mahesh, S Vidyut and Reuben Paul. Hefinished with the excellent figures of 27-10-54-6.Earlier, Baroda resuming at 285 for eight, did well to get 324. Thiswas largely due to Ajit Bhoite. Fifty overnight, the 24-year-old righthander took his score to 78 off 76 balls before he was ninth out.Bhoite hit nine fours and two sixes and with Buch (20) added 65 runsfor the ninth wicket off 12.3 overs. Former India off spinner AashishKapoor, who dismissed Bhoite, then had Buch caught by wicketkeeperReuben Paul to finish with four for 64.