Ranji Trophy: Tamil Nadu in position of strength

After restricting Gujarat to 173 in the first innings, Tamil Nadu were 158 for three in reply at stumps and are assured of a minimum of three points though the hosts are obviously pushing for an outright win in a bid to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin dealt big blows to Gujarat’s hopes of putting up a fighting total as he grabbed five for 57 while another off-break bowler, Suresh Kumar took four for 42.

Gujarat's total would have been far smaller but for a 54-run partnership for the seventh wicket between top-scorer Pratharesh Parmar (67) and Salil Yadav (13) as their side recovered from 80 for six.

In reply, Tamil Nadu recovered from an early loss of wicket when opener Abhinav Mukund (7) fell cheaply as this season's prolific scorer and former captain Subramaniam Badrinath (72 batting) and Arun Karthik (60) put on 115 runs for the third wicket.

After Karthik’s departure, Badrinath carried on to take Tamil Nadu to within 16 runs of taking the crucial first innings lead.