Vijay Hazare Trophy: Warrier, Natarajan dismantle Bengal to arrange Tamil Nadu’s five-wicket win

Tamil Nadu made optimum use of bowler-friendly situations to register a facile victory towards Bengal and notch up its second consecutive win within the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Sandeep Warrier and T. Natarajan broke Bengal’s again by selecting 5 wickets within the first 10 overs in a 38-over-a-side contest on the Brabourne Stadium. The Bengal batters by no means recovered from the early blow and folded for 84 within the twenty fourth over.

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Tamil Nadu then crossed the goal within the twentieth over after a little bit of a stutter. The five-wicket win, with 18.5 overs to spare, will enhance the facet’s Net Run Rate, which may come into the equation for the 2 knockouts spots from Group E.

With heavy in a single day rain delaying the beginning of the sport by two hours, it didn’t come as a shock that Dinesh Karthik opted to bowl the second the coin landed in his favour. It took Natarajan simply three balls to strike, when he uprooted Abhimanyu Easwaran’s off-stump with one which formed in.

In his subsequent over, a light-weight drizzle interrupted play after Akash Deep’s promotion to see off the brand new ball didn’t work, with Vijay Shankar snaring a catch.

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At seven for 2, Warrier took management after the resumption. While Warrier and Natarajan pitched the ball within the channel, the Bengal batters performed away from the physique to maintain Tamil Nadu’s slip cordon busy.

At 42 for 5, and the new-ball bowlers making manner for Vijay and B. Aparajith’s spin, the onus was on Shakir Gandhi and Shahbaz Ahmed to bail Bengal out. However, Gandhi’s aerial heave resulted in a catch to Natarajan within the deep on the on-side. With the ball gripping into the floor, the spinners made merry regardless of restricted alternatives to make sure Bengal bowlers had too little to defend.

The Bengal tempo trio did bowl its coronary heart out. Ishan Porel and Mohammad Kaif picked two wickets every, with the latter being lucky to have been rewarded with Vijay’s wicket when the ball appeared to have hit him excessive on the pad and maybe sliding down leg-side.

N. Jagadeesan’s wise knock ensured Tamil Nadu crossed the road with none actual scare. Come Wednesday and Tamil Nadu will hope to proceed its profitable run towards Baroda.