New Delhi: Senior pro Dinesh Karthik produced an innings of character before Tamil Nadu’s disciplined bowling effort saw them beat Bengal by 37 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final, here on Monday.
This was the third time that Tamil Nadu prevailed over Bengal in the one-day tournament having beaten them in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
Karthik (112) was the only significant scorer for Tamil Nadu en route to their meagre total of 217 in 47.2 overs as Mohammed Shami bowled with a lot of fire, scalping 4 for 26. Ashok Dinda (3/36) also rattled the top order.
But Tamil Nadu bowlers showed unbelievable discipline restricting Bengal to 180 on a pitch that didn't have any demons.
Off-spinner MS Washington Sundar (0/17) didn’t get wickets but kept the Bengal batsmen on tenterhooks in his eight overs spell.
Rahil Shah, Aswin Crist and Mohammed Mohammed all did what was required to defend a small total.
Trying to be extra cautious, Shreevats Goswami (23) consumed a lot of deliveries at the onset increasing the pressure. A poor call led to Abhimanyu Easwaran's (1) run out.
Manoj Tiwary (32) was bowled by opposite number Vijay Shankar while trying to play a pull shot as the ball seemed to have kept low.
Sudeep Chatterjee (58) and Anushtup Majumdar (24) added 65 runs for the fifth wicket for Bengal but a dodgy leg before off Baba Aparajith started another collapse.
Chatterjee then played an atrocious sweep shot to get bowled round the legs off left-arm spinner Sai Kishore as Bengal's hopes ended.
Earlier Karthik hit 14 boundaries to score more than 50 per cent of Tamil Nadu's runs despite a good effort by Bengal bowlers.
The former India stumper played shots all around the wicket playing the drives and pulls with equal ease. He lost partners at the other end but never stopped attacking as 91 runs from 20 overs bowled by Amir Gani (0/42 in 10 overs) and Pragyan Ojha (0/49 in 10 overs) proved crucial.
Brief scores
Tamil Nadu 217 in 47.2 overs (D. Karthik 112, B. Indrajith 32, Shami 4/26, A. Dinda 3/36) bt Bengal 180 in 45.5 overs (M. Tiwary 32, S. Chatterjee 58, Aswin Crist 2/23, M. Mohammed 2/30, Rahil Shah 2/38).
