CHENNAI: A cracker of a contest is on the cards when Tamil Nadu meet Bengal in a crucial Ranji Trophy Elite Group A tie at the IC-Gurunanak College grounds here on Wednesday. A win or first innings lead will give indications of who will make it to the knockout stage.
With the matches being tough in the final three rounds of the league phase, most teams would prefer to bag three points on first innings lead rather than try for an outright win, which may not be feasible always.
Hence toss is vital.
Tamil Nadu with the likes of Abhinav Mukund, Anirudha Srikkanth, Arun Karthik, S Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik and R Satish have a formidable batting line-up, which has been among runs. The hosts ha ve not been affected by the absence of M Vijay. Despite the absence of R Ashwin, TN’s bowling has variety. L Balaji, C Ganapathy, Sunil Sam and Yo Mahesh are raring to go, while spinners M Prabhu and Aushik Srinivas are keen to make an impact. “It is a crucial match for us. Bengal is a good side and we expect a good game. The wicket is also good so I am sure it will be a keen contest,’’ said PC Prakash, TN batting coach.
Bengal’s strength lies in batting with the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Manoj Tiwary in the squad. It’s bowling does not have the variety that Tamil Nadu possess. So it will boil down to which team bats better.
“Bengal is a good batting side and our bowling may have better variety than the visitors. I believe that whoever bats better will excel in the match,’’ added Prakash.
Bengal coach Raman, who till last season was Tamil Nadu’s coach, played down the familiarity factor.
“It all boils down to how one plays in the middle. TN at home will be under pressure as we have nothing to lose. Ganguly’s presence will certainly be an inspiration for the youngsters,’’ said Raman.