One wicket remaining, one run to get. The tension at Chepauk was palpable.
Left-arm paceman T. Natarajan started his run-up. Pradipta Pramanik settled into his stance.
Natarajan fired in a reverse-swinging yorker. Pramanik managed to dig it out on the leg-side. A scampered single was completed.
Roar of success
The Bengal camp let out a roar, sprinted onto the field celebrating a successful chase of 216 on a difficult pitch on the fourth afternoon of this Ranji duel here on Saturday.
Bengal now has 12 points from four games and Tamil Nadu five from four.
The host had shot itself in the foot, getting dismissed for 141 in the second innings through some inept batting. Credit to Bengal for seizing the opportunity.
TN’s plans seemed to be working before the eighth-wicket pair of Sudip Chatterjee (40, 118b, 2x4) and Pramanik (25 not out, 97b, 1x6) put together 57 off 156 balls.
The left-handed Sudip was calm and organised. And, for a No. 9, Pramanik was secure in defence and assured in strokeplay.
TN’s tactics during this critical association were baffling. Apart from the close catchers, the field was set deep, and the singles were conceded too easily, releasing the stress.
And Rahil, Tamil Nadu’s trump card, should have come into the attack straightaway after lunch when Bengal required only 36.
10-wkt haul by Rahil
Rahil, finishing with a 10-wicket match haul, had been influential in the first session from the pavilion end — there was a rough outside the left-hander’s off-stump for him to exploit — in a spell of 15-2-40-3.
When he returned, Bengal needed just 11. Rahil had Sudip, coming out to defend a ball that held its line, stumped, but the wicket came too late.
The 25 extras conceded by Tamil Nadu hurt, so did the tough chances put down early off Aamir Gani, who eventually made a valuable 25.
Natarajan, who bowled with verve in the morning to trap key batsman Manoj Tiwary leg-before with a ball that darted in from round the wicket, and the accurate Rahil struck telling blows before lunch.
Then Bengal found a way back.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 263.
Bengal — 1st innings: 189.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: 141.
Bengal — 2nd innings: Abhishek Raman c Indrajith b Kaushik Gandhi 53, Koushik Ghosh c Indrajith b Rahil 13, Manoj Tiwary lbw b Natarajan 18, Aamir Gani lbw b Natarajan 25, Sudip Chatterjee st Jagadeesan b Rahil 40, Anupstup Majumdar lbw b Rahil 7, Writtick Chatterjee c Aparajith b Rahil 0, Shreevats Goswami c Indrajith b Rahil 9, Pradipta Pramanik (not out) 25, Ashoke Dinda run out 1, Ishan Porel (not out) 0; Extras (b-12, lb-10, nb-3): 25. Total (for nine wkts in 82.5 overs): 216.
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-80, 3-114, 4-121, 5-134, 6-134, 7-150, 8-207, 9-215.
Tamil Nadu bowling: T. Natarajan 22.5-5-49-2, M. Mohammed 6-1-19-0, Kaushik Gandhi 11-2-33-1, Rahil Shah 25-4-68-5, Sai Kishore 13-3-22-0, B. Aparajith 5-3-3-0.
Points: Bengal 6, Tamil Nadu 0.
Man-of-the-Match: Abhishek Raman.