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Player of the Match
Player of the Match

TN, Vidarbha ready for a grudge match

Abhinav Mukund raises his 21st first-class century ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Match facts

February 16-20, 2015
Start time 0930 IST

Big picture

In any other season, a knockout game between Tamil Nadu and Vidarbha would have seemed a face-off between perennial underachievers and surprise entrants. But there's more to it this year. This season, the contest is likely to be grudge match due to the presence of S Badrinath in the Vidarbha camp.

The domestic stalwart switched allegiance to Vidarbha from his home team, Tamil Nadu, ahead of the season. And he has made a statement. Not only by piling on runs in his trademark fashion but also by helping Vidarbha make it to the knockouts for the first time in almost two decades.

Vidarbha's move to revamp their core group by bringing in Paras Mhambrey as coach and Badrinath, Ganesh Satish and Rakesh Dhurv as professionals paid rich dividends as the team exceeded all the expectations by finishing third in Group B.

Tamil Nadu were able to capitalise on their strategy of preparing turning tracks for home games. Their spin troika of Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah and Aushik Srinivas exploited the conditions that were tailormade for them, while Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik and siblings B Aparajith and B Indrajith have ensured Badrinath's absence wasn't felt too much. M Vijay's century in the last game was also a boost for Tamil Nadu before the knockout stage.

It would be interesting to see which of the two teams uses the seamer-friendly conditions in Jaipur to their advantage.

In the Spotlight

With 475 runs from 13 innings, Abhinav Mukund had an average 2013-14 Ranji season. But the left-handed opening batsman has come back with a bang to lead Tamil Nadu's batting unit with 700-plus runs. If Abhinav continues his silken touch, Vidarbha's dream run may come to an end soon.

He has played for India A. He has won a Man-of-the-Match award in the IPL. Shrikant Wagh, however, has not yet been able to enter the league of consistent pace bowlers on the domestic circuit. This could well be the breakthrough season for the Vidarbha left-armer as he has scalped more than 30 wickets in the league stage.

Squads

Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund (capt), M Vijay, U Sushil, B Aparajith, Dinesh Karthik (wk), R Prasanna, B Indrajith, L Balaji, Vijay Shankar, M Rangarajan, Rahil Shah, R Aushik Srinivas, M Shahrukh Khan, A Ashwin Crist, L Vignesh, Prasanth Parameswaran

Vidarbha: S Badrinath (capt), Faiz Fazal (vice-capt), Ganesh Satish, Shalabh Shrivastava, Amol Ubarhande, Ravi Jangid, Urvesh Patel, Rakesh Dhurv, Shrikant Wagh, Swapnil Bandiwar, Ravi Thakur, Akshay Wakhare, Sachin Kataria, Sumeet Ruikar, Yadvendra Tembhare.

Stats and Trivia

  • S Badrinath needs 44 runs to become the 14th batsman with 7000 runs in Ranji Trophy.

  • For the first time in the last 10 seasons, Tamil Nadu registered four victories in a Ranji season. In the league stages, they beat Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai and Baroda, bettering their record of three wins in a season in 2008-09.

  • Vidarbha manage draw, TN go through to semis

    Tamil Nadu fell two wickets short of registering a win against Vidarbha on the fifth day in Jaipur, but made it to the semi-finals for taking the first-innings lead earlier in the drawn match

  • Karthik and Shankar deflate Vidarbha

    Tamil Nadu took another big step towards clinching a spot in the Ranji Trophy semi-finals, as half-centuries from Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar helped the team build a huge lead on the penultimate day against Vidarbha in Jaipur

  • Vidarbha fight, but TN ahead

    Early wickets and a lack of substantial partnerships left Vidarbha at 206 for 6, well behind Tamil Nadu's 403, in their Ranji Trophy quarter-final match in Jaipur

  • Shankar, Indrajith drive Tamil Nadu

    Vijay Shankar notched up his second first-class hundred, while B Indrajith missed his second ton by three runs, both hoisting Tamil Nadu to 403 in the first innings.

  • Mhambrey's miracle men

    An injection of self-belief, led by coach Paras Mhambrey and three hungry professionals, has launched Vidarbha into the the Ranji Trophy knockouts for only the second time in their history

Vidarbha 4th innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st15FY FazalSO Katariya
2nd0FY FazalGanesh Satish
3rd0S BadrinathGanesh Satish
4th53SU ShrivastavaGanesh Satish
5th22Ganesh SatishR Jangid
6th5Ganesh SatishUR Patel
7th1SB WaghGanesh Satish
8th41RV DhurvGanesh Satish
9th5Ganesh SatishSS Bandiwar