Felix provides manna for TN

Incidentally, this is the maiden title round clash between the youthful Tamil Nadu and the flamboyant Indian Airlines and the contest promises to be an exciting affair going by the semifinal performance.

It was fancied TN, who controlled the proceedings right from the word go. L Prabhakar seemed to have rediscovered his form and with enthusiastic help from the effervescent Jagan Senthil, the TN attack made good for another listless show by skipper Thirumalvalavan. Radhakrishnan came up with a performance that enhanced his reputation as a promising mid-fielder. With Ramesh Babu and Dinesh Nayak moving up from their defence positions to join the attack time and again, it was only the lack of finishing on their forwards’ part that stopped TN from scoring during the 70 minutes of regulation time.

Central Excise stuck to their strategy of crowded mid-field, another factor that was detrimental to TN’s progress, looking for the rare foray that would result in a penalty corner. Forward Suresh, with additional support from Ibrahim and later Daljit Singh seemed to be gunning only for a penalty corner, rather than a goal, whenever he broke loose. The tactic was however negated with remarkable efficiency by an alert TN defence comprising Sunder and Sasikaran. And on the occasion, early in the second session, when Excise earned their lone penalty corner of the match, Rajinder’s try was cleared away by Dinesh Nayak.

Meanwhile, Prabhakar and Jagan Senthil continued to strive, which unfortunately did not fetch appropriate rewards. The three penalty corners TN earned too going waste, it needed Devasagayam Felix’s effort to take them to the final.