16 wkts fall in Bengal vs TN match; pitch comes under scanner

Chennai: Tamil Nadu prepared a rank turner to get an outright result but they were in a spot of bother at stumps in the Ranji Trophy group B encounter against Bengal with as many as 16 wickets faling on the first day.

Tamil Nadu spinners -- offie Malolan Rangarajan (6/30) and left-arm spinner Rahil Shah (4/65) decimated Bengal for 130 in 52 overs before the visitors hit back reducing Tamil Nadu to 66 for six in 35.1 overs. Off-spinners Saurashish Lahiri (2/27), Arnab Nandi (1/4) and Writtick Chatterjee (1/5) along with seasoned left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena (2/21) did well enough to dismiss the top-order batsmen like Abhinav Mukund (14), Baba Aparajith (8), S Badrinath (3), Baba Indrajith (3) and Dinesh Karthik (28). With 16 wickets falling on the first day itself, the 22-yard strip has come under scanner with ball turning square. The off-spinners of both sides included, have accounted for 10 of the 16 wickets to have fallen so far. For Bengal, veteran Subhamoy Das scored 36 off 49 balls with six fours and a six giving a far better account of himself. Subhamoy had crawled to 20 off 121 balls against Railways which was one of the reasons for Bengal conceding three points in that match. Young left-hander Sudeep Chatterjee also fought gutsily remaining not out on 34 with three fours. Seven Bengal players were out scoring less than 10 runs. In-form skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla (0) was dismissed when he tried to hit left-armer Rahil Shah out of the ground only to be stumped. The Nos 9, 10, 11 didn`t score a single run for Bengal as Rangarajan ran through the lower half with effortless ease. When Tamil Nadu batted, they crawled to 16 in 10 overs before the slide began. Saxena got Aparajith bowled in the 11th over. Abhinav Mukund edged one to Subhamoy off Saxena to make it 29 for two while Badrinath offered a catch to Shukla to fall on same score. Baba Indrajith offered a bat pad catch off Lahiri`s bowling to Abhimanyu Easwaran. Vijay Shankar and Karthik who hit four boundaries carried the score to 66 before both fell in a space of five balls. Right-hander Vijay was bowled by Writtick while Karthik gave a catch to Subhamoy off Arnab Nandi. Brief Scores: Bengal 130 in 52 overs (Subhamoy Das 36, Sudeep Chatterjee 34 no, Malolan Rangarajan 6/30) Tamil Nadu 66/6 in 35.1 overs (Dinesh Karthik 28, Iresh Saxena 2/21, Saurashish Lahiri 2/27).