Chennai: Tamil Nadu made their own fortunes on Tuesday. The decision to ask Dinesh Karthik to open the second innings was a masterstroke from the TN think-tank.
Karthik (56*) had taken his side to 102 for the loss one wicket at stumps with 83 runs required to win the Ranji Trophy match against Bengal at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
The flamboyant TN batsman not just swept the Bengal spinners away for runs but also their chances of making it to the final eight as well. His 120-ball unbeaten knock has almost put his side into the quarterfinals provided Baroda fail to beat Rajasthan.
At the halfway mark on day two, the game was certainly going in favour of Bengal with their spinners polishing off the TN lower-order within half-an-hour of play.
TN’s first innings folded at 85, their fourth lowest, to gift the visitors a lead of 45 runs.
Bengal had a great chance to drive home the advantage. They sent in hard-hitting Saurasish Lahiri to open the innings along with Gitimoy Basu. The move backfired as the TN spinners — R. Malolan and Rahil S. Shah — were once again on the money.
Left-arm spinner Rahil (6/64) and offie Malolan (4/48) had enough in the wicket to trouble the top-order and reduced Bengal to 31 for four.
The same spin duo had claimed all the Bengal wickets in the first innings, with the only difference being in the individual tally of Malolan (6) and Rahil (4). It’s a rare feat for two bowlers to bag 20 wickets in a match. Rahil reaped the rewards for bowling a bit faster while Malolan lured the batsmen into making mistakes.
Bengal skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla threw caution to the wind. He swept and reverse-swept with ease and at will. In the blink of an eye, the scoreboard read 89 for five and he forged the first 50-run stand of the game with Sudip Chatterjee (39).
It was an enterprising innings from Shukla (46, 25 balls). Shukla had almost taken the bull by the horns.
Rahil’s decision to come over the wicket and cramp the batsman paid-off as Shukla top-edged a paddle only to find the gloves of Karthik. The tail-enders couldn’t assist a defiant Sudip as Bengal were bundled out for 139 in 40.3 overs.
If there was one TN batsman who was capable of tackling the Bengal spinners, it was Karthik. So it wasn’t a surprise to see the dashing batsman walk out with Abhinav Mukund to open the innings.
Karthik had the measure of off-spinners Lahiri, Arnab Nandi and Writtick Chatterjee as he jumped forward or rocked back to pepper the holes on the leg-side. At the other end, Abhinav quietly played his part to rotate strike to add 72 for the first wicket with Karthik before being caught at silly point off Writtick. Karthik has an able and experienced partner in S. Badrinath (16*) to spur TN towards a win on the third day.
SCORECARD
Bengal (1st innings): 130
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): B. Aparajith b Saxena 8, Abhinav Mukund c Das b Saxena 14, S. Badrinath c Shukla b Lahiri 3, B. Indrajith c Abhimanyu b Lahiri 3, Dinesh Karthik c Das b Nandi 28, Vijay Shankar b Writtick 6, R. Prasanna c Writtick b Nandi 0, R. Malolan c Shukla b Nandi 2, L. Balaji c Das b Nandi 1, Rahil S. Shah (not out) 8, R. Aushik Srinivas c Nandi b Lahiri 4. Extras (b8) 8. Total (in 42.3 overs) 85.
Fow: 1-16, 2-29, 3-29, 4-45, 5-66, 6-66, 7-67, 8-69, 9-70.
Bowling: Ashok Dinda 4-1-4-0, Saurasish Lahiri 16.3-5-33-3, Iresh Saxena 10-2-21-2, Jitendra Shaw 2-1-1-0, Arnab Nandi 6-1-9-4, Writtick Chatterjee 4-1-9-1.
Bengal (2nd innings): Gitimoy Basu lbw Rahil 3, Saurasish Lahiri c Karthik b Rahil 15, Abhimanyu Easwaran c Karthik b Malolan 5, Sudip Chatterjee c Karthik b Malolan 39, Subhomoy Das lbw Rahil 1, L. R. Shukla c Karthik b Rahil 46, Writtick Chatterjee c Vijay b Malolan 8, Arnab Nandi lbw Rahil 5, Ashok Dinda c Balaji b Rahil 8, Iresh Saxena c Abhinav b Malolan 6, Jitendra Shaw (not out) 1. Extras (b2) 2. Total (in 40.3 overs) 139.
Fow: 1-3, 2-22, 3-24, 4-31, 5-89, 6-108, 7-118, 8-132, 9-132.
Bowling: Balaji 3-0-9-0, Rahil 18-4-64-6, Malolan 14.3-0-48-4, Aushik 5-0-16-0.
Tamil Nadu (2nd innings): Abhinav Mukund c Abhimanyu b Writtick 26, Dinesh Karthik (batting) 56, S. Badrinath (batting) 16. Extras (lb 4) 4. Total (for one wicket in 39 overs) 102
FoW: 1-72
Bowling: Dinda 5-0-10-0, Lahiri 11-3-22-0, Shaw 4-1-4-0, Nandi 7-1-20-0, Saxena 7-3-21-0, Writtick 5-0-21-1.
