AN IN-FORM Vidarbha will take on a struggling Tamil Nadu side in the third round of the Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match at Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Science Ground in Coimbatore from Saturday. Reigning champions Vidarbha are at the top of Group A with a win and a first innings lead victory (10 points) and would aim to go for the kill against a side which had a shaky start to their campaign and are in fifth position with three points. Vidarbha started with aplomb crushing Nagaland by an innings and then took vital three points from a rain-curtailed match against Jharkhand at VCA Jamtha a few days ago.

 

Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, were humbled by Jharkhand by an innings and 114 runs in their opener and then a lowly Nagaland frustrated them scoring 446 against 512 in first innings. Vidarbha batters have shown resolve in the last two games with opener Aman Mokhade hitting twin Daddy Hundreds in as many games. Last year’s highest runs scorer of the tournament Yash Rathod, too, slammed an unbeaten hundred against Jharkhand to help Vidarbha take three points from a drawn tie. The other batters including left-handed opener Athrava Taide, professionals Dhruv Shorey and Ravikumar Samarth, apart from all-rounder Akshay Karnewar, all have runs under their belts going into this match. The Akshay Wadkar-led side will aim to carry on the momentum.

 

The start has been favourable and the team would love to add another seven points to their kitty with an outright win, which they aim for with their aggressive brand of play. Against Jharkhand, situation was different with rain and bad light hampering progress of the game. However, their approach would be altogether different if they get a clear sky in Coimbatore. It would be an opportunity for the bowlers to show their talent in absence of injured pacer Aditya Thakare, Yash Thakur, Harsh Dubey who both are with India A team. The seamers Nachiket Bhute, Darshan Nalkande and Praful Hinge apart from spinner Parth Rekhade, have a decent game against Jharkhand but they will have to be penetrative against Tamil Nadu if they want to take 20 wickets in the match. Vidarbha added pacer Lalit Yadav and all-rounder Satyam Bhoyar to the 17-member squad to strengthen the side. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand will try to get back on the track after some below-par performance despite a double century from Pradosh Rajan Paul (201) and a hundred from Vimal Kumar (189). In the middle order C Andre Satish too collected some runs (65) against Nagaland. Their bowling department will be spearheaded by Gurjapneet Singh, who had taken 4-75 and DR Chandrashekhar (3-6) in the last game. They will try to overpower Vidarbha batters on their home turf. For Vidarbha, this would be their second away game before they play two back-to-back home matches from November 8.