Tamil Nadu hold the whiphand against orissa

Tamil Nadu continued their dominance over Orissa into the third day. At the end of the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Super League at the Barabati stadium on Monday, the southern state were in a position of considerable strength, in keeping with their impressive record this season. Ahead by 132 runs on the first innings, Tamil Nadu hit up 309 for eight before declaring their second innings. Chasing an unlikely victory target of 442, Orissa were 36 for one at stumps.

It was a day when Tamil Nadu consolidated. Resuming at 55 for one, Tamil Nadu predictably went for quick runs. Rajat Bhatia made 60 off 119 balls with seven fours. For the second time in the match, the debutant made top score. He and Satyajit Medappa (29) added 56 runs for the second wicket off 18 overs. Almost all the batsmen who followed made useful contributions with JR Madanagopal (31), skipper S Sarath (42) and wicketkeeper Reuben Paul (44) standing out.

In the Orissa second innings, their in form opener and skipper Shiv Sundar Das was going strong on 25 with four hits to the fence at stumps. But Orissa still face an uphill task on the morrow.