Shreevats 61, lone bright spot for Bengal on final day

Having conceded first innings lead on the third, Bengal survived a top-order collapse before managing to end up with a point from their group A Ranji Trophy encounter against Tamil Nadu, here today.
Tamil Nadu ended up with three points from the game by virtue of their slender first innings lead of 17 runs as they ended their first innings on 354 in reply to Bengal's 337.
Bengal in their second innings batted for 77 overs to reach 196 for 9 with Shreevats Goswami scoring 61 off 154 balls after they were reduced to 66 for five at one stage.

Left-hander Shreevats ensured that Bengal do not lose the match outright after the likes of Manoj Tiwary (7), Agniv Pan (0) and Sudeep Chatterjee (0) being dismissed cheaply. Shreevats hit nine boundaries and a six in his innings.
Much of the credit should go to Thangarasu Natarajan (12 not out) and Krishnamoorthy Vignesh (34 no) for their 44-run stand for the last wicket.
While pacer Sayan Ghosh would be happy with his maiden five-for (5/123 in 36.1 overs), he should also take the blame for his wayward bowling at the end of the third evening that the last wicket pair raced to the lead.

When Bengal batted, Abhimanyu Easwaran (12) was caught by substitute Suryaprakash off Vignesh.

Sayan Sekhar Mondal (28) defended doggedly for 90 balls but saw his skipper Tiwary was again out caught and bowled this time to medium pacer Aswin Crist.
Left-hander Pan (0) could not repeat his impressive show in the first innings as he edged one to MS Washington Sundar in the slips off the bowling off Crist.
Shreevats joined Mondal as the dup added 36 runs for the fourth wicket before a straighter from off-break bowler Washington.
Bengal were down in the dumps at 66 for five when Washington removed first innings centurion Sudeep trying to cut and in the process being caught by glovesman Narayan Jagadeesan.

Effectively 49 for five with more than 50 overs left, Bengal were in real danger when former India U-19 Shreevats decided to curb his flamboyance.
He found an able ally in Amir Gani (45) as they added 87 runs and more importantly consume around two hours by the time Bengal's chances of what looked like an imminent defeat evaporated.
Once Gani was bowled by R Aushik Srinivas, Shreevats decided to down the shutter as he took bulk of the strike in the next 13 overs during which 15 runs were scored.
Once Shreevats was dismissed trying to cut Srinivas, Bengal were in a position of relative safety with 150 plus lead and very little time left for Tamil Nadu to chase.

The match was called off after the mandatory overs started.
Brief Scores: Bengal 337 and 196/9 (Shreevats Goswami 61, Amir Gani 45, MS Washington Sundar 3/29)
Tamil Nadu 1st Innings 354 (Dinesh Karthik 80, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh 34 no, Sayan Ghosh 5/123).
Points: Bengal 1; Tamil Nadu 3.