Tamil Nadu suffers first loss to Pondicherry

With the result, Tamil Nadu’s winning streak in the 50-over competition came to an end. The Narayan Jagadeesan-led team had defeated title holder Mumbai, Karnataka, and Bengal by huge margins in its opening three group matches. Despite the close defeat, Tamil Nadu tops the Group B table with 12 points from 4 matches.

The Fourth Round fixture was initially reduced to 49 overs per side due to rain in the morning. Having invited Pondicherry to bat, Tamil Nadu failed to bowl its opposition out after restricting it to 147 for 9 in the 34th over. Off-spinner Washington Sundar led the bowling charge with a five-wicket haul, but Fabid Ahmed and Bharat Bhushan Sharma stole the show with a 78-run game-changing partnership for the unbroken tenth wicket.

Skipper Jagadeesan and Dinesh Karthik notched up the fifties for Tamil Nadu, whose run-chase petered out after another rain break in the 32nd over of the second passage. Tamil Nadu was on top of its game for the majority of the first essay, picking up wickets at regular intervals. Washington (5/48 off 10 overs) was the demolisher-in-chief, with pacer R Silambarasan (2/48) doing his bit with a two-wicket effort.

Despite dominating most parts of the innings, Tamil Nadu could not get the job done with the ball. Fabid (87 not out off 84 balls, 7 fours, 4 sixes), in at No.7, and No.11 batter Bharat (22 not out off 52 balls, 2 fours) injected confidence into the Pondicherry camp by guiding their team to a respectable 225 for 9.

While Fabid took the attack to the opposition in the end overs, Bharat held one end up with his assured knock. For a second consecutive match, Tamil Nadu lost three early wickets but Jagadeesan (64 off 103 balls, 4 fours) and Karthik (65 off 72 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) brought the side back on track with a good stand.

When the scorecard read 134 for 3 in the 32nd over, the heavens opened up once again. Tamil Nadu was set a revised target of 206 off 44 overs but lost its way post the forced break. The fourth-wicket alliance between Jagadeesan and Karthik, which was worth 90 runs, was broken in the 36th over.

Tamil Nadu needed 5 runs off the last 4 deliveries with two wickets in hand but fell agonizingly short of its target. Off-spinners Fabid (2/22) and Bharat (2/33) impressed with the ball as well, picking up two wickets apiece.

Brief scores: Pondicherry 225/9 in 49 overs (Fabid 87*, Washington 5/48) bt Tamil Nadu 204/9 in 44 overs (Karthik 65, Jagadeesan 64, Fabid 2/22, Bharat 2/33)