Senior pro Dinesh Karthik produced an innings of character before Tamil Nadu' s disciplined bowling effort saw them beat Bengal by 37 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final at New Delhi on Monday.
This was the third time that Tamil Nadu prevailed over Bengal in the national one-day meet having beaten them in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
Karthik (112) was the only significant scorer for Tamil Nadu on route to their meagre total of 217 in 47.2 overs as Mohammed Shami bowled with a lot of fire, scalping 4 for 26. Ashok Dinda (3/36) also rattled the top order.
But the Tamil Nadu bowlers showed unbelievable discipline restricting Bengal to 180 on a pitch that didn't have any demons.
Off-spinner MS Washington Sundar (0/17) didn't get wickets but kept the Bengal batsmen on tenterhooks in his eight-over spell.
Rahil Shah, Aswin Crist and Mohammed Mohammed all did what was required to defend a small total.
Trying to be extra cautious, Shreevats Goswami (23) consumed a lot of deliveries at the onset increasing the pressure. A poor call led to Abhimanyu Easwaran (1) being run out.
Manoj Tiwary (32) was bowled by opposite number Vijay Shankar while trying to play across the line. It was a delivery that needed to be played on the front foot and he committed to a shot on the backfoot.
Sudeep Chatterjee (58) and Anushtup Majumdar (24) added 65 runs for the fifth wicket for Bengal but a dodgy leg before off left-arm spinner Rahil Shah started another collapse.
Chatterjee then played an atrocious sweep shot to get bowled round the legs off left-arm spinner Sai Kishore as Bengal's hopes ended.
Earlier Karthik hit 14 boundaries to score more than 50 per cent of Tamil Nadu's runs despite a good effort by the Bengal bowlers.
The former India stumper played shots all around the wicket playing the drives and pulls with equal ease. He lost partners at the other end but never stopped attacking as 91 runs from 20 overs bowled by Amir Gani (0/42 in 10 overs) and Pragyan Ojha (0/49 in 10 overs) proved crucial.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)