Seasoned campaigner S Sharath registered his 19th Ranji century as Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 372 in their first innings on the second day of 'Elite' Group A match against Gujarat at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, on Tuesday.
In reply, Gujarat were struggling on 67, with three of their top batsmen already cooling their heels in pavilion.
Sharath, who was unbeaten on 97 yesterday, cracked a brilliant 155, studded with 17 boundaries, after the visitors resumed at their overnight score of 252 for six.
Gujarat pacer Shymal Bhatt struck two early blows in the morning when he removed overnight batsman Ganesh Kumar and R Ramkumar to take his innings tally to four for 93.
Just when it seemed that the visitors would be bowled out within 300, tailender Ganapathy came up with a tenacious 43 not out and put on a 76-run stand with Sharath, who was eventually caught at extra cover by Kirat Damani off paceman Lalit Patel.
Ganapathy had six hits to the fence in his 106-ball knock. He spent nearly two hours at the crease.
Memories of middle-order collapses on home turf against Hyderabad in the season opener returned to haunt the hosts as the Tamil Nadu speedsters sent three batsmen to the pavilion when Gujarat began their first essay.
However, in-form opener Akash Christian stood firm with an unbeaten 50 and skipper Mukund Parmar was not out on 1 at close on day two.
Scoreboard
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): (overnight 252/6)
D Karthik c N Modi c S Bhatt 31
S Suresh c N Modi b S Bhatt 5
S Badrinath b H Majmudar 35
S Vishwanathan c N Modi b L Patel 12
S Sharath c Damani b L Patel 155
J Madangopal lbw b H Majmudar 11
S Vidhyut c M Parmar b L Patel 50
S GaneshKumar c M Parmar b S Bhatt 4
R RamKumar lbw S Bhatt 14
Ganapathy not out 43
Vignesh run out 2
Extras: (2b, 4lb, 1nb, 3w) 10
Total: (all out in 136.4 overs) 372
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-47, 3-77, 4-109, 5-153, 6-240,7-255, 8-289, 9-365.
Bowling: L Patel 33.4-9-81-3, H Majmudar 32-4-89-2, S Bhatt 26-2-93-4, B Mehta 20-4-39-0, T Patel 7-0-30-0, K Damani 18-4-34-0.
Gujarat (1st innings):
A Christian not out 50
L Pawar c D Karthik b G Vignesh 3
N Patel c & b S Suresh 1
N Modi c S Suresh b R Ramkumar 1
M Parmar not out 6
Extras: (lb 1, nb 5): 6
Total: (for 3 wkts, 41 overs) 67
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-31, 3-42
Bowling: C Ganapathy 9-2-21-0, G Vignesh 10-5-19-1, S Suresh 9-5-14-1, R Ramkumar 10-7-8-1, S Vidhyut 3-1-4-0.
