When Dinesh Karthik and company arrived at Feroz Shah Kotla during the semi-final clash between Jharkhand and Bengal for a practice session, the team would not have thought that they will be facing Bengal in the final at that time, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was in full flow and was wrestling the game from Bengal.
He was in crisp form and was scoring runs at will. The style of play which Dhoni adopted, must have had worried Karthik a bit but till the time he left, Dhoni was out and till the time he reached his hotel, he had to turn his attention towards Manoj Tiwary, who showed a similar methodology of play in the morning.
Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary pounced upon a great start provided from Shreevats Goswami and Abhimanyu Easwaran. They both shared 198 runs for the first wicket and went back with three-figure mark alongside their name. Tiwary came in and continued to explore runs out of weak bowling and helped Bengal mount a total of 329 runs.
Though in the second innings of the game, Bengal had a tough 90 minutes till the time when Dhoni was at the crease but after his dismissal, it became clear it will be Bengal to face Tamil Nadu in the final as Jharkhand had no other player who could absorb such sort of pressure.
Tamil Nadu’s Road to the final –
Both Tamil Nadu and Bengal had an easy road to the quarter-final stage as they won five out of six games each to qualify for the knockouts.
Tamil Nadu faced a Parthiv Patel sans Gujarat at Palam Ground in the quarter-final and chased a down a total of 212 to book a clash against the team in-form Baroda for the final spot. Against Baroda, the South Indian boys put down a great show as they chased down a target of 220. Washington Sundar was the star in that game as apart bowling an economical spell of 7-1-20-2 he also smashed two sixes at a time when Tamil Nadu needed someone to anchor them to a win.
Now it’s the showdown time for Tamil Nadu, as the winner of the first edition of Vijay Hazare Trophy will look to hold the elusive cup for the fourth time.
Manoj Tiwary Looks To Replicate Dada:
Bengal, after qualifying for the knockouts easily, had a tough road as in the quarter-final against Maharashtra, they were asked to chase 319 runs which they did, but on the penultimate ball of the day. They were in a tough situation at the one time but Anustup Majumdar, who made his comeback to Bengal side this season, along with Sudip Chatterjee, steered the team and seal an impressive win to face Jharkhand.
In the semi-final, more than the pressure of the game, it was the presence of MS Dhoni which Bengal players had to overcome. The pressure on them can be seen from on the field when senior player Ashoke Dinda dropped a sitter of Dhoni at long-off when the former Indian skipper was batting on just six. For 90 minutes when Dhoni was at the crease, Bengal players had their heart in the mouth but the moment Ojha cleaned Dhoni by deceiving him in the air, Bengal was sure that they are going to the finals.
Bengal has a history attached to this ground as well as it was five years back at the same ground, they won Vijay Hazare Trophy under the leadership of Dada Sourav Ganguly. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the former Bengal skipper and now a minister in Government of Bengal Government, also scored a century to reel the team to a champion victory. Bengal will hope for a deja vu moment to relive the history once again.
The conclusion –
On paper, both the teams look equally strong but it is a fact that Bengal has had a tough road to the knockouts. The way the youngsters took charge in the semi-final was that which brightens their chances in the final. One more thing that works in their favour is that they have a leader in every department of the game. In batting, they have Manoj Tiwary whereas, in bowling, they have Dinda and Ojha to oversee pace and spin department respectively.
On the other hand, the success of Tamil Nadu still depends upon few players. This team lacks a leader who can put the opposition under some pressure. They have done the best to keep themselves in a positive state of mind but still, inside, the solidity of Bengal team might give them a bit to worry.
Match information –
Squads –
Tamil Nadu Squad: Vijay Shankar (Captain), W. Anthony Dhas, Dinesh Karthik, R. Rohit, Baba Aprajith, Baba Indrajith, V. Ganga Sridhar Raju, Washington SUndar, Kaushik Gndhi, Rahil Shah, N Jagadeesan, Murugan Ashiwn, Aswin Christ, Sai Kishore, M Mohammed, S. Radhakrishnan.
Bengal squad: Manoj Tiwary (c), Shreevats Goswami, Sudip Chatterjee, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Abhishek Raman, Debabrata Das, Anustup Majumdar, Pankaj Shaw, Writtick Chatterjee, Pragyan Ojha, Aamir Gani, Ashoke Dinda, Sayan Ghosh, Kanishk Seth, Ishan Porel, Mukesh Kumar. Stand-byes: Pramod Chandra, Veer Pratap Singh.
Venue- Feroz Shah Kotla.
Time: 900 AM