Prior to their meeting in the Ranji Trophy quarter final in the 1995/96 season, Tamil Nadu had never beaten Bombay in the competition. There was some indefinable quality to Bombay cricket that seemed to intimidate rivals - even palpably strong ones like Tamil Nadu - into submission. Whether it was a home or away engagement, whether Bombay had their top stars or not, the result was always the same.

Thus Bombay would not have been daunted by the knowledge that this encounter would be hosted by their opponents at the Indian Cement Company Ground in Tirunelveli. Nor would they have been unduly affected by the absence of Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. They still had an adequate bating line-up comprising Sunil More, Manoj Joglekar, Jatin Paranjpe, Amol Majumdar, Sulakshan Kulkarni and skipper Sameer Dighe.

Tamil Nadu decided to put all their eggs in one basket, going in with a four pronged spin attack. It was a combination with plenty of variety too. Balaji Rao, then into his second first class season was the leg spinner. Veterans Sunil Subramaniam and Diwakar Vasu (who juggled his medium pacers and spinners judiciously) were left arm tweakers. M Venkatramana, another veteran, provided the off spinning alternative.

Tamil Nadu chose to bat after winning the toss and were bowled out for 246 on the opening day, Sridharan Sharath top scoring with 86. Bombay's own leggie Sairaj Bahutule did most of the damage, scalping five victims. In reply, Bombay were hustled out for 196 on the third day. The visitors took a long time over those runs, which were collected off 127.5 overs, suggesting how difficult the going was. Balaji Rao was in the thick of the action, grabbing 4/46 off 26.5 overs.

After three early wickets had fallen for 28, Majumdar and Kulkarni launched a stubborn rearguard act, putting on 104 for the fourth wicket. The breakthrough was provided by the Tamil Nadu leggie, then a few days short of his 18th birthday, who had Majumdar caught by skipper Robin Singh for 54. He took the next wicket as well, bowling Bahutule, and then came back to polish off the tail by sending back Abey Kuruvilla and Nilesh Kulkarni. Kulkarni was left high and dry on 94.

On the fourth afternoon, Tamil Nadu's second innings concluded at 250, Sharath following up his first innings effort with 90. Left with a target of 301 on a fourth and fifth day track, Bombay collapsed for just 147 to lose by a whopping margin of 153 runs. Balaji Rao trapped one-drop Paranjpe leg before to take his match haul to five but it was Robin Singh who turned destroyer with his niggling medium pacers yielding seven wickets. With match figures of 5/71 in Tamil Nadu's historic first ever victory over Bombay, it is not difficult to figure out why Balaji Rao finds this performance so satisfying.