Jan. 5: After two days of soulless cricket, Day Three made for engrossing viewing and one that led to a clear equation emerging in the Ranji Trophy semi-final at the SMS Stadium here on Wednesday. After Rajasthan declared their innings at 552/7, Tamil Nadu had progressed to 190/3 at stumps on the penultimate day.
In case of the first innings not being completed, the visitors need to make a further 272 in 90 overs in order to better the run rate of 2.90 achieved by Rajasthan. In the 69 overs bowled so far, TN are behind by 10 runs on the required rate. A lot will depend on S. Badrinath who is batting on a neatly compiled 78 (280m, 184b, 10x4). K. Shri Vasudeva Das is giving him company with 22.
Earlier in the day, Rajasthan lifted their run rate marginally thanks to Hrishikesh Kanitkar’s unbeaten 100 (268m, 192b, 13x4) and Ashok Menaria scoring his second successive first-class hundred (106, 249m, 189b, 11x4, 2x6).
Brief scores: Rajasthan 552/7 decl (Hrishikesh Kanitkar 100 n.o., Ashok Menaria 106; Ganapathy 2/73, Sam 2/96) vs Tamil Nadu 190/3 in 69 overs (Abhinav Mukund 47, S. Badrinath batting 78, K. Shri Vasudeva Das batting 22; Pankaj 1/45, Deepak Chahar 1/51).