Sport

Badrinath, Vijay put TN in semifinals

— Photo: Sampath Kumar

MEMORABLE SPELL: L. Balaji delivered when it mattered, claiming a six-for to set up Tamil Nadu’s victory over Bengal in the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy on Monday.

Bangalore: On a day of dramatic upheavals triggered by L. Balaji’s six-wicket haul, S. Badrinath (92 n.o.) and M. Vijay (73) added their batting mettle as Tamil Nadu defeated Bengal by eight wickets in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals that concluded at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday. Tamil Nadu will now play Uttar Pradesh at Nagpur in the semifinals, commencing on January 4.

Balaji’s morning spells of 7-4-7-3 and 1-1-0-2 snuffed out Bengal’s second innings. Resuming at 134 for four, Bengal lost its skipper L.R. Shukla early. Shukla remained indecisive as Balaji’s delivery slanted in and grazed the bat to nestle in Dinesh Karthik’s gloves.

Balaji then repeatedly rattled timber as Ritam Kundu, Arindam Das and Sourav Sarkar sported timid bats and frozen feet. Ashok Dinda then miscued a pull and Ranadeb Bose got run out as Bengal was bowled out for 187, leaving a target of 227 from 68 overs.

Dinesh Karthik’s men did it in style, scoring 227 for two in 52 overs. Openers Abhinav Mukund (31) and M. Vijay (73, 87b, 12x4, 1x6) set a frenetic pace in an 84-run partnership.

Abhinav threaded drives through a packed off-side while Vijay found his runs with a mix of feather-touch flicks and the leaning cover drive as the Bengal seamers Bose and Dinda lost their plot.

Sarkar eventually castled Abhinav but Vijay and Badrinath, who was a bit rusty in the beginning, hustled the runs.

Vijay, however, perished on the drive but Badrinath (92 n.o., 116b, 12x4, 2x6) began to time the ball though the running between the wickets with skipper Karthik remained risky. Badrinath carted off-spinner Kundu for two sixes and was racing towards his century when Bengal acted like sore loser as Manoj Tiwary and Kundu bowled wides.

The milestone was missed but victory could not be denied as Karthik slammed the winning run while the latest Tamil hits began in the dressing room.

The scores:

Bengal – 1st innings: 345

Tamil Nadu – 1st innings: 306.

Bengal – 2nd innings: W. Saha c Vijay b Balaji 26, A. Chowdhury c Badrinath b Ganapathy 0, M. Tiwary c Suresh Kumar b Ashwin 42, L.R. Shukla c Karthik b Balaji 47, D. Chakrabarty lbw b Ashwin 0, R. Kundu b Balaji 21, Arindam Das b Balaji 3, R. Banerjee (not out) 9, S. Sarkar b Balaji 7, A. Dinda c Vidyut b Balaji 0, R. Bose (run out) 10. Extras (b-16, lb-5, nb-1): 22. Total (in 65.5 overs): 187.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-48, 3-87, 4-95, 5-147, 6-152, 7-153, 8-163, 9-167.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Balaji 20-11-24-6, Ganapathy 8-2-16-1, Amarnath 7-0-22-0, Ashwin 26.5-1-93-2, C. Suresh 4-2-11-0.

Tamil Nadu – 2nd innings: A. Mukund b Sarkar 31, M. Vijay c Tiwary b Bose 73, S. Badrinath (not out) 92, D. Karthik (not out) 16. Extras (b-4, lb-2, nb-1, w-8): 15. Total (for two wkts., in 52 overs): 227.

Fall of wickets: 1-84, 2-122.

Bengal bowling: Bose 11-2-50-1, Dinda 10-0-51-0, Kundu 11-1-41-0, Sarkar 9-0-36-1, Chowdhury 8-2-24-0, Tiwary 3-0-19-0.

Mumbai vs Saurashtra, Chennai

TN vs UP, Nagpur

(Beginning January 4)

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu