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TN v Vidarbha, Ranji Trophy 2014-15, quarter-final, Jaipur February 15, 2015

With more than 700 runs in this season already, Abhinav Mukund has led Tamil Nadu's batting ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Match facts

February 16-20, 2015 Start time 0930 IST

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In any other season, a knockout game between Tamil Nadu and Vidarbha would have seemed a face-off between perennial underachievers and surprise entrants. But there's more to it this year. This season, the contest is likely to be grudge match due to the presence of S Badrinath in the Vidarbha camp.

The domestic stalwart switched allegiance to Vidarbha from his home team, Tamil Nadu, ahead of the season. And he has made a statement. Not only by piling on runs in his trademark fashion but also by helping Vidarbha make it to the knockouts for the first time in almost two decades.

Vidarbha's move to revamp their core group by bringing in Paras Mhambrey as coach and Badrinath, Ganesh Satish and Rakesh Dhurv as professionals paid rich dividends as the team exceeded all the expectations by finishing third in Group B.

Tamil Nadu were able to capitalise on their strategy of preparing turning tracks for home games. Their spin troika of Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah and Aushik Srinivas exploited the conditions that were tailormade for them, while Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik and siblings B Aparajith and B Indrajith have ensured Badrinath's absence wasn't felt too much. M Vijay's century in the last game was also a boost for Tamil Nadu before the knockout stage.

It would be interesting to see which of the two teams uses the seamer-friendly conditions in Jaipur to their advantage.

Read more:
TN, Vidarbha ready for a grudge match