CHENNAI: The final day of the Group 'A'
Ranji Trophy clash between Bengal and Tamil Nadu at the
Madhavrao Scindia Stadium
at Rajkot ended in a draw, but it was the Abhinav Mukund-led team that walked away with 3 points thanks to their first innings lead. Bengal, in their second essay, ended up on 196 for 9 after bowling out Tamil Nadu for 354.
Bengal didn't have the best of starts as they lost half their side with 66 on board before the fightback began.
Sreevats Goswami
(61, 9x4, 1x6) and Aamir Gani (45, 8x4) were involved in an 87-run sixth wicket stand off 23.3 overs that all but finished Tamil Nadu's push for an outright win. Post that fruitful stand, No 8
Ashok Dinda (28, 6x4) entertained in his 25-ball cameo. "Both Sreevats and Aamir dug in deep and there were a few chances which didn't go our away. A few catches didn't carry to the fielders and a run-out opportunity too didn't materialize," skipper Abhinav told TOI on Wednesday.
For Abhinav, the biggest takeaway from the game was the performance of his bowlers. Medium-pacers Aswin Crist (2-29), T Natarajan (1-40) and
K Vignesh
(1-52) rattled the Bengal top-order while spinners Washington Sundar (3-29) and
Aushik Srinivas (2-39) too played their parts to perfection. "I thought on a wicket that didn't offer much assistance to the bowlers, our pacers Crist, Natarajan and Vignesh kept it tight while Aushik and Washington gave nothing away. The wicket on the final day was on the flatter side but we kept Bengal under pressure for the better part of it and that's a good thing," Abhinav said.
With 20 points from 6 games, Tamil Nadu are closing in on a knockout berth, but Abhinav isn't ready to look that far. "There are two more matches to go for us and our aim is to continue to play good quality cricket and the rest will be taken care of," he said.
Scoreboard: Bengal 1st innings: 337
Tamil Nadu 1st innings (o/n 348-9): K Vignesh not out 34, T Natarajan c Easwaran b Ghosh 12; Extras (b1, lb13, w1, nb11) 26; Total (all out in 109.1 overs) 354; FoW: 1-5, 2-105, 3-141, 4-199, 5-212, 6-237, 7-281, 8-303, 9-310, 10-354; Bowling: Dinda 27-3-73-1, Kuila 20-2-58-1, Ghosh 36.1-6-123-5, Gani 7-0-19-0, Ojha 14-2-48-2, Mondal 5-0-19-0
Bengal 2nd innings: AR Easwaran c sub b Vignesh 12, S Mondal lbw b Washington 28, MK Tiwary c&b Crist 7, S Pan c Washington b Aswin 0, S Goswami c Jagadeesan b Aushik 61, S Chatterjee c Jagadeesan b Natarajan 0, A Gani b Aushik 45, A Dinda b Washington 28, P Ojha c Indrajith b Washington 6, S Ghosh not out 0, AS Kuila not out 0; Extras (b4, lb1, nb4) 9; Total (For 9 wickets in 77 overs) 196; FoW: 1-18, 2-27, 3-27, 4-63, 5-66, 6-153, 7-168, 8-195, 9-196; Bowling: Crist 17-8-29-2, Natarajan 14-2-40-1, Vignesh 17-6-52-1, Washington 13-5-29-3, Aushik 14-4-39-2, Abhinav 2-1-2-0
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