Nagpur: Opener Faiz Fazal led a strong reply from Vidarbha with an unbeaten century as the home side reached 214 for two in their first innings on the third day of their Ranji Trophy group league match against Tamil Nadu on Monday.
Fazal was undefeated on 110 off 271 balls (19X4) as Vidarbha ended the day 229 runs short of Tamil Nadu`s first innings total of 449 for eight declared at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground.
Fazal shared 151 runs with Shiv Sunder Das (62) for the opening wicket to lay a strong foundation for Vidarbha fightback in the Group B match.
Urvesh Patel (12) was the other Vidarbha player dismissed as Tamil Nadu bowlers led by skipper L Balaji failed to make any major impact on the home side batsmen.
Earlier in the morning, Tamil Nadu declared their innings at the overnight score of 449 for eight as they looked for results.
Vidarbha will require to score 230 runs on the final day tomorrow with eight wickets in hand if they fancy taking the vital first innings lead which is certainly not out of their reach.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu first innings: 449 for eight decl in 180 overs.
Vidarbha first innings: 214 for two in 84.4 overs (Faiz Fazal 110 batting, S S Das 62; A Srinivasan 1/30).
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 03, 2012, 23:01