Subramaniam Badrinath struck an unbeaten 93 to guide Tamil Nadu to an eight-wicket victory over Bengal and take his side to Ranji Trophy semi-finals on the fourth and final day in Bangalore on Monday.
After conceding a first innings lead of 39, Tamil Nadu bounced back by bundling out Bengal for 187 before notching up the victory target of 227 losing two wickets in the process.
Resuming at 134 for four, Bengal lost six wickets by adding only 53 runs in the morning session with Tamil Nadu medium pacer Laxmipathy Balaji turning out to be the wrecker-in-chief with an impressive bowling figures of 20-10-24-6.
Tamil Nadu's victory chase went off smoothly. Openers Abhinav Mukund (31) and M Vijay (73) put on 84 runs in 18.5 overs, scoring at a fast pace. Vijay hit 12 fours and a six in his 87-ball knock.
Then Badrinath hit a brilliant unbeaten 92 to take Tamil Nadu home in the company of skipper Dinesh Karthik (16 not out) who scored the winning boundary.
Badrinath's 116-ball innings included 12 fours and two sixes.
Brief scores: Bengal 345 and 187 (L R Shukla 47, Manoj Tiwary 42; Balaji 6/24, R Ashwin 2/93) vs Tamil Nadu 306 and 227 for two (Badrinath 93 not out, M Vijay 73, A Mukund 31; S S Sarkar 1/36, R R Bose 1/50).
