New Year, old story

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu started the New Year disastrously as they suffered a heartbreaking four-run defeat at the hands of Bengal in the Ranji Trophy on Wednesday. The result on the third day of the do-or-die league match at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium meant Tamil Nadu failed to make it to the quarterfinals for the second year in succession.

From a position of strength overnight (102 for 1, chasing 185), the hosts crashed to a morale-sapping defeat, which would linger on until the next season. Bengal off-spinner Saurasish Lahiri (33-10-62-7) ripped through the heart of a spineless TN batting line-up.

Tamil Nadu lost their last eight wickets for 55 runs. The emphasis of the spinners was on bowling faster and a bit flatter to prevent the TN batsmen from going for horizontal bat shots or dancing down the track.

Bengal succeeded in putting the brakes on Dinesh Karthik, the only TN batsman with a decisive foot-work. Medium pacer Laxmi Ratan Shukla transformed himself into a spinner and  bowled off-cutters to tie Karthik down at one end at the start. Lahiri capitalised on the indecisiveness of the batsmen as he bowled with a packed onside field with  men around the bat leaving the covers wide open for most part of the day.

Lahiri trapped S. Badrinath in front for the first breakthrough of the day and a procession followed. The big blow for TN was — as Shukla mentioned later — the fall of Karthik. He chipped Lahiri straight into the deep mid-on fielder. Karthik’s failure to find the gap would bleed the hosts later on.

It was the beginning of the end. Runs were hard to come by. Lahiri and his fellow spinner Arnab Nandi were men in a hurry as they bowled 20 overs, conceding 29 runs picking up three wickets around an hour.

Tamil Nadu were in trouble at 131 for four when B. Indrajith (2) departed. Skipper L. Balaji couldn’t live up to the role of a pinch-hitter. An attempted sweep went awry as Lahiri trapped Balaji lbw.

Except for the rare attacking display from B. Aparajith  (33, 83 balls, 4x4s, 1x6s), the rest of the TN middle-order surrendered meekly. After Aparajith’s departure, it was left to R. Prasanna, TN’s saviour this season, to carry his side across the finish line with the help of the tail.

But Prasanna, who couldn’t take the field on Tuesday owing to fever, nicked an away going delivery from Lahiri to wicket-keeper Basu. At 156 for eight, the hopes of TN were as good as over.

The gallant last wicket pair of R. Malolan (11) and R. Aushik Srinivas (10*) put on 22 to take TN closer to an unlikely victory, but Writtick Chatterjee caught the former on the crease to bring the roof down in the Bengal dressing room.

SCOREBOARD:
Bengal (1st innings): 130
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 85
Bengal (2nd innings): 130
Tamil Nadu (2nd innings): A. Mukund c Easwaran b Writtick 26, D. Karthik c Dinda b Lahiri 62, S. Badrinath lbw b Lahiri 21, B. Aparajith c Easwaran b Nandi 33, B. Indrajith c Easwaran b Lahiri 2, L. Balaji lbw b Lahiri 1, Vijay Shankar c Basu b Lahiri 0, R. Prasanna c Basu b Lahiri 5, R. Malolan lbw b Writtick 11, Rahil S. Shah c Writtick b Lahiri 1, R. Aushik Srinivas (not out)    10. Extras (lb7, nb1) 8. Total (in 81.5 overs) 180.
FoW: 1-72, 2-110, 3-125, 4-131, 5-133, 6-144, 7-156, 8-156, 9-158.
Bowling: Dinda 4-0-6-0, Lahiri 33-10-62-7, Shaw 4-1-4-0, Nandi 12-1-34-1, Saxena 18-9-35-0, Writtick 6.5-0-24-2, Shukla 4-1-8-0.