2017 Vijay Hazare Trophy: Tamil Nadu defeat Bengal by 37 runs in grand finale to clinch title

Tamil Nadu annexed the Vijay Hazare trophy for a record fifth time after registering a 37 run win over Bengal in the final played at Freoz Shah Kotla on Monday.

Chasing a modest total of 218 set by Tamil Nadu, Bengal lost their top order batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran and Agniv Pan inside the first 5 overs with the scorecard reading just 4 runs. The Tamil Nadu bowlers bowled tight lines and kept a check on the opposition batsman in the first ten overs.

Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary and Shreevats Goswami tried to stage a recovery before Rahil Shah had the latter caught by Vijay Shankar for 23. Soon after, Tiwary was clean bowled by Vijay Shankar for 32 and that shifted the momentum in favour of Tamil Nadu.

Bengal were eventually dismissed for 180 with Sudip being the top scorer. For Tamil Nadu, it was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, Aswin Crist along with M Mohammad and Rahil Shah who took 2 wickets apiece.