Vidarbha’s Aditya Thakare celebrates the wicket of Tamil Nadu batter Mohammed Ali in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at Nagpur on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY
Vidarbha pacer Aditya Thakare (12-2-18-4) produced a high-quality display of fast bowling and blew the Tamil Nadu top-order away to bowl his side into a strong position on the second day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash here at the VCA ground on Sunday.
Thakare was relentless with his line and length probing around the off-stump and struck thrice in his first six overs. He then returned to break a crucial 95-run fifth-wicket partnership between C. Andre Siddharth (65) and Vijay Shankar when he had the latter caught behind. At stumps, the visitor was tottering at 159 for six in reply to the home team’s first-innings total of 353.
Thakare struck in his first over pegging back opener Mohammed Ali’s off-stump. He then had B. Sai Sudharsan – who cut one straight to backward point – before removing M. Boopathi Vaishna Kumar caught behind in his next over. The 18-year-old Andre, playing in his maiden season, walked in with his team in dire straits at 38 for four and played a brilliant counter-attacking knock to get his side back on track.
From the moment he got off the mark by flicking Bhutte nonchalantly over mid-wicket, Andre oozed style and class as he wielded his willow like a sword. He drove imperiously down the ground and was equally adept off the back-foot, cutting and punching anything slightly short. He brought up his half-century in style off just 58 balls, lofting Bhutte down the ground for a huge six.
Earlier, the hosts’ overnight batters Karun Nair (122) and Harsh Dubey (69) started the day positively against some ordinary bowling. Karun was severe on anything short, deploying his cut and pull shots to find the fence while Dubey scored his fourth half-century of the season to take the team past 300.
TN came back in the final hour of the first session to bowl out Akshay Wadkar’s side at the stroke of lunch.
The scores:
Vidarbha – 1st innings: Atharva Taide c Ajith Ram b Mohammed 0, Dhruv Shorey c & b Vijay Shankar 26, Aditya Thakare c Sai Kishore b Sonu Yadav 5, Danish Malewar c Mohammed b Vijay Shankar 75, Karun Nair b Sonu Yadav 122, Yash Rathod st. Jagadeesan b Mohamed Ali 13, Akshay Wadkar c Jagadeesan b Ajith Ram 24, Harsh Dubey c Sai Sudharsan b Vijay Shankar 69, Nachiket Bhute c Boopathi b Sonu Yadav 4, Yash Thakur lbw b Mohammed 2, Akshay Wakhare (not out) 1; Extras (b-4, lb-5, w-2, nb-1): 12; Total (in 121.1 overs): 353.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-25, 3-44, 4-142, 5-167, 6-231, 7-326, 8-332, 9-351
Tamil Nadu bowling: Mohammed 30.1-9-64-2, Sonu Yadav 28-6-91-3, Vijay Shankar 22-6-75-3, Sai Kishore 20-4-48-0, Ajith Ram 17-3-50-1, Mohamed Ali 4-0-16-1.
Tamil Nadu- 1st innings: Mohamed Ali b Thakare 4, N. Jagadeesan c Taide b Bhute 22, B. Sai Sudharsan c Yash Thakur b Thakare 7, M. Boopathi Vaishna Kumar c Wadkar b Thakare 0, Vijay Shankar c Wadkar b Thakare 22, C. Andre Siddarth c Taide b Dubey 65, Pradosh Ranjan Paul (batting) 18, R. Sai Kishore (batting) 6; Extras (lb-6, w-9): 15; Total (for six wkts. in 46 overs): 159.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-36, 3-38, 4-38, 5-133, 6-136.
Vidarbha bowling: Yash Thakur 12-0-61-0, Thakare 12-2-18-4, Bhute 9-1-39-1, Dubey 10-1-33-1, Wakhare 3-1-2-0.
Published – February 09, 2025 08:42 pm IST
