Tamil Nadu lost four quick wickets in the second innings as their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Delhi headed for an exciting finish at the Ferozshah Kotla ground in Delhi on Sunday.

Bowlers dominated the proceedings as the batsmen struggled to put up decent scores against their name on the third day, which witnessed ten wickets from both the sides tumbling under overcast conditions.

After bowling out Delhi for 256 in the morning, Tamil Nadu closed the day on 88 for four, an overall lead of 159.

With six wickets still standing, Tamil Nadu will be looking to put up a good score to defend, though their fortunes would largely depend on the two not out batsmen - Sadagoppan Ramesh and S Sharath, batting on 20 and 5 respectively.

The visiting captain S Suresh surprisingly opened the second innings along with Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, in place of an in-form Sadagoppan Ramesh, who top-scored in the first essay with a patient 82.

Despite the change, Tamil Nadu got off to a poor start as Sivaramakrishnan was dismissed for a duck in the fourth ball of the innings, snapped by wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya off the bowling of Amit Bhandari.

Tamil Nadu suffered a major jolt when S Sriram and India batsman Hemang Badani returned to the pavilion in quick succession, leaving the side at 53 for three.

Sriram added 35 runs for the second wicket with Suresh (35) before being dismissed by Sanjay Gill for 16.

Badani also failed to stay long at the crease as he was dismissed leg before wicket by Virender Shewag for five.

Though wickets fell regularly at the other end, Suresh displayed great patience and grit to tackle the uneven bounce of the pitch. However, his 135-minute stay at the crease came to an end when he failed to keep down a rising ball from S S Negi, offering a catch to wicketkeeper Dahiya.

Ramesh and Sharath, who came to bat at the fall of Suresh, played the final few overs cautiously to deny any more success to the rival bowlers.

Earlier, Negi and last man Bhandari saved the home side from blushes as they compiled 62 runs for the last wicket to take their side past the 250-mark, which, at one stage, looked impossible.

Resuming at 127 for four, Delhi lost their first wicket in the third over of the day when Dahiya was dismissed without adding anything to his overnight score of 19. He edged an L Balaji delivery to wicketkeeper P Raaju as Delhi lost their fifth wicket at 129.

Delhi lost four more wickets including that of Mithun Manhas (31) for the addition of just 65 runs to be precariously placed at 194 for nine.

But Bhandari (32) and Negi, who topscored with 44, put on invaluable 62 runs for the last wicket before the latter was removed by M R Srinivas at the stroke of tea.

Just before Delhi's innings came to an end, a short shower in the afternoon forced the umpires to halt the game for more than hour.

Though the rain lasted for just 15 minutes, the 80 minutes were lost as the uncovered pitch was affected.

Scoreboard
 
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 327
Delhi (1st innings): 256
Tamil Nadu (2nd innings):

V Sivaramakrishnan c Dahiya b Bhandari  0
S Suresh c Dahiya b Negi 35
S Sriram c Sanghvi b Gill 16
H Badani lbw b Sehwag 5
S Ramesh batting 20
S Sharath batting 5
Extras: (nb-7) 7
Total: (for 4 wkts, 38 overs) 88
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-35, 3-43, 4-72.
Bowling: Bhadari 6-1-21-1, Gill 9-0-29-1, Sarandeep 11-8-4-0, Sehwag 6-0-25-1, Negi 3-1-7-1, Sanghvi 3-1-2-0.