Ranji Trophy: TN pacers demolish Baroda

Tamil Nadu pacemen K. Vignesh and Aswin Crist made excellent use of the seaming track to bundle out Baroda for a sub-100 total before its batters made a solid start.

K. Vignesh (left) and Aswin Crist ripped through Baroda's batting order, sharing nine wickets between them.

Pacemen hunt in pairs. On a green surface offering seam movement, Tamil Nadu’s K. Vignesh and Aswin Crist performed a demolition job on the Baroda line-up.

Vignesh scalped five, and Crist four as Baroda, inserted, was bundled out for 93 on the first day of the Group A duel at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium here on Saturday.

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In an astonishing collapse before lunch, Baroda slumped from 71 for one to 73 for seven in 4.3 overs. The Tamil Nadu slip cordon was sharp, backing the seamers.

On a track of this nature, the batsmen had to play close to the body, bat straight and only venture into horizontal strokes only if the length was short.

>READ: Vignesh: 'We exploited the conditions well'

In-form southpaw Abhinav Mukund did just. The Tamil Nadu captain, getting solidly behind the line, was unbeaten on a well compiled 40 (93b, 6x4) as his team ended a satisfying day at 79 for one.

In the morning, K. Vignesh ran in with rhythm and delivered from a high-arm action. The transfer of weight from his delivery stride and load up to releasing the ball appeared smooth.

He essentially seamed the ball either way. It was the good length that he bowled that put seeds of doubts in the batsmen’s mind whether to play forward or back. The resultant lack of footwork was exploited by Vignesh.

He bowled Kedar Devdhar with one that nipped back and had Dhiren Mistry taken in the cordon with an away going ball. He returned to polish off the tail.

If Vignesh relied on a good length, an off-stump line and deviation, Crist extracted bounce from a back-of-a-length with his quick-arm action. The Baroda batsmen found Crist’s extra lift hard to cope with.

Importantly, Crist prised out Yusuf Pathan with a rising delivery. Dinesh Karthik held a splendid high catch at point.

Crist also got his hand to a firm straight hit by Vishnu Solanki to catch key batsman Deepak Hooda short of the crease at the non-striker’s end.

Tamil Nadu brought in pacemen K. Vignesh and L. Vignesh for Washington Sundar and the injured T. Natarajan. For Baroda, Irfan Pathan, not yet fully recovered from flu, sat out as Hooda to lead the side.