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TN looks better on paper

Special Correspondent

AGARTALA: On sheer all-round performance so far in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day cricket tournament, Tamil Nadu stands a better chance of winning the final against Bengal at the Maharaja Bir Bikram Stadium here on Monday.

Endowed with deep batting order that goes till No. 10, variety in bowling and outstanding fielding all combined gives the South Zone champion the edge.

On the other hand, Bengal lacks depth in batting, it’s over reliance on Manoj Tiwary to score runs and wrist injury to its frontline off-spinner Ritam Kundu can be factors detrimental to its chances.

The advantage Bengal, the losing finalist last year, enjoys is that it has played two matches on this pitch, winning a close game against Delhi and defeating Baroda comfortably.

More used to this kind of slow and low turner, last year’s losing finalist will hope to put on 250 or so to put the pressure on the Tamil Nadu batting.

“This kind of a pitch should not be a problem for us,” said R. Ashwin, captain of Tamil Nadu. “We have been playing well and we hope to continue in the same way in the final as well.”

Ashwin did say that the pitch would not produce a high scoring game. “It is not conducive for strokeplay. It all depends on how one applies himself on this wicket.”

He pointed out that Bengal’s batting lacks depth and “we want to cash in on it.”

To a question, coach W.V. Raman said, “We are not playing one or two players, we are going to play against 11 players.”

Tamil Nadu is unlikely to change the winning combination, but may be compelled to bring in first choice wicket-keeper K.H. Gopinath in place of U. Sushil, provided the former is fit. Ashwin said the playing XI would be decided only after taking a look at the pitch before toss.

Bengal will make a change, bringing in off-spinner Priyankar Mukherjee to replace an injured Ritam Kundu.

Bengal captain L.R. Shukla sounded confident of his team’s chances. “We are taking Tamil Nadu as another opponent. It is the final and we will play well and play hard,” he said.

“We are used to this pitch. For Tamil Nadu, the conditions will be new. This is an advantage we enjoy,” Shukla suggested.

The teams (from): Bengal: Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Dibyendu Chakrabroty, Manoj Tiwary, Laxmi Ratan Shukla (capt.), Debabrata Das, Avik Chowdhury, Ashok Dinda, Ranadeb Bose, Iresh Saxena, Priyankar Mukherjee, Abhishek Banerjee.

Tamil Nadu: S. Anirudha, Abhinav Mukund, K.B. Arun Karthik, S. Badrinath, S. Vidyuth, S. Suresh Kumar, R. Ashwin (capt.), U. Sushil, K.H. Gopinath, C. Ganapathy, V. Yomahesh, R. Sudeesh, N. Einstein.

Umpires: Amish Sahiba (Gujarat) and Sanjay Hazare (Baroda). Match referee: Col. C. Sharma.

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