They say yellow is the colour of hope and happiness, agility and athleticism. No wonder, then, that there’s something about sports teams in yellow that makes you sit up and take notice. Brazil, Australia, Lakers, CSK — you get the point. This Tamil Nadu team isn’t in that class but what it lacks in superstar power, it makes up for in intensity.
On a windy Sunday at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Civil Lines, it gave Bengal a 69-run hammering to notch up its second consecutive win to occupy the top spot in Group ‘A’ of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
If Abhinav Mukund (41, 37b, 3x4, 1x6) shepherded the team through a top-order collapse engineered by seamer Alok Pratap Singh (4-0-15-3), then Dinesh Karthik (21, 13b, 3x4) and W. Anthony Dhas (28 not out, 18b, 2x4, 2x6) provided the innings with fillip at the death.
A total of 151 for eight turned out to be enough on a pitch where batting wasn’t easy.
Bengal made life difficult for itself with an utterly childish display, devoid of desire or nous, to fold up for 82 in 15.5 overs.
Seamers R. Satish and J. Kousik used the conditions well to reduce Bengal to nine for two before spin twins M. Ashwin (3-0-9-2) and Rahil Shah (2.5-0-12-5) ran through the line-up to seal the deal.
Shreevats Goswami (31, 30b, 2x4, 1x6) and the technically-adept Sudip Chatterjee (18, 17b, 2x4) were the only ones to reach double figures as Bengal imploded — it lost eight wickets for the addition of just 24 runs — and rendered useless the momentum garnered during Friday’s victory over Hyderabad.
Tiwary’s absence feltSkipper Manoj Tiwary sat out with a calf injury and his absence was felt as Ashoke Dinda (4-0-32-0) had a forgettable day as captain and bowler.
So brilliant was Tamil Nadu that it accounted for a whopping 45 dot balls with sharp catching and acrobatic fielding.
That Bengal managed to score just six fours and a six spoke volumes of Tamil Nadu’s discipline.
Skipper Parthiv Patel (59, 38b, 6x4, 1x6) led from the front as Gujarat defeated Vidarbha by 60 runs in Jamtha. Ashish Reddy (37, 29b, 2x6) and C.V. Milind (three for 34) starred as Hyderabad defeated Himachal Pradesh by 14 runs in Jamtha.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu 151 for eight in 20 overs (Abhinav Mukund 41, W. Anthony Dhas 28 n.o., Alok Pratap Singh three for 15, Mohammed Shami two for 30, Pragyan Ojha two for 31) bt Bengal 82 in 15.5 overs (Shreevats Goswami 31, M. Ashwin two for 9, Rahil Shah five for 12).
Points: TN 4 (8), Bengal 0 (4) .
Gujarat 174 for seven in 20 overs (Parthiv Patel 59, Manpreet Juneja 37, Chirag Gandhi 30 n.o., Ravikumar Thakur two for 45, Ravi Jangid two for 33) bt Vidarbha 114 in 18.4 overs (R.P. Singh three for 26, Jasprit Bumrah three for 16, Harshal Patel three for 36).
Gujarat 4 (4), Vidarbha 0 (0) .
Hyderabad 140 for nine in 20 overs (B. Sandeep 29, Ashish Reddy 37, Akshay Chauhan four for 25, Rahul Singh two for 25) bt Himachal Pradesh 126 for nine in 20 overs (Ankush Bains 25, Mohammed Siraj two for 22, C.V. Milind three for 34, Akash Bhandari two for 18).
Hyderabad 4 (4), Himachal 0 (4) .
