Some incisive bowling by Tamil Nadu's pacers forced Delhi on the backfoot as the visitors wrested the initiative on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Delhi on Saturday.
The pacers -- L Balaji, M R Sriniwas and S Suresh -- accounted for the top three Delhi batsmen to put Tamil Nadu in a comfortable position.
The hosts ended the day at 127 for four, still 200 runs behind their opponent's first innings score of 327.
Spinner D Dhandapani accounted for the fourth batsman, Varun Kumar, who made only 14 before offering a simple catch to wicketkeeper Raju Radhakrishnan.
Though Delhi need only one run to avoid the follow-on, they are unlikely to overtake Tamil Nadu's first innings score unless the two not out batsmen -- Mithun Manhas and Vijay Dahiya, batting on 20 and 19 respectively -- come up with an inspiring performance tomorrow.
Delhi's sorry tale began when Gautam Gambhir (30), Akash Chopra (31) and dashing batsmen Virender Sehwag got out in quick succession after the side was given a solid start by the openers, who put on 58 runs for the first wicket in 21 overs.
Tamil Nadu's most succesful bowler of the season, L Balaji claimed the first wicket when he had Gambhir caught behind for 31. Gambhir, the latest entrant to the Indian team, hit four boundaries during his 62-ball knock.
Sehwag, who came to bat at the fall of his opening partner at the Dhaka tri-series, was a big disappointment today, staying at the crease for just four balls before playing a Sriniwas delivery on to his stumps without even opening his account.
Scoreboard
Tamil Nadu (1st innings):
V Shivramkrishnan c Negi b Bhandari 27
S Ramesh c Bhandari b Gill 82
S Sriram c Chopra b Sanghvi 33
S Suresh c Bhandari b Sanghvi 35
H Badani c Sehwag b Sarandeep 63
S Sharath lbw Gill 6
S V Saravanan c Manhas b Bhandari 39
M R Sriniwas not out 17
D Dhandapani c Dahiya b Bhandari 1
P Raaju st Dahiya b Sanghvi 0
L Balaji c Varun b Negi 1
Extras: (b-3, lb-8, w-2, nb-10) 23
Total: (all out, 128.4 overs) 327
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-101, 3-163, 4-226, 5-244, 6-299, 7-315, 8-317, 9-318.
Bowling: Bhadari 29-7-72-3, Gill 26-8-53-2, Negi 18.4-5-55-1, Sarandeep Singh 29-5-74-1, Sanghvi 13-4-26-3, Sehwag 10-2-27-0, Manhas 3-0-9-0.
Delhi (1st innings):
A Chopra lbw b Suresh 30
G Gambhir c Raaju b Balaji 31
V Sehwag b Sriniwas 0
M Manhas batting 20
V Kumar c Raaju b Dhandapani 12
V Dahiya batting 19
Extras: (lb-2, w-2, nb-11) 15
Total: (for 4 wkts, 49 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-59, 3-75, 4-96.
Bowling: Balaji 15-5-42-1, Sriniwas 11-3-27-1, Suresh 8-3-21-1, Dandhapani 12-5-31-1, Shivramkrishnan 3-1-4-0.
