South struggle but gain
first innings lead
South Zone managed to secure a 21-run first innings lead over East Zone, scoring 419 on the
penultimate day of the four-day Duleep Trophy cricket league
match in Bangalore on Thursday.
The highlight of the day's play was a patient 104 by
skipper M S K Prasad, and valuable contributions from Hemang
Badani (68), Sharath (49), Vijay Bharadwaj (48) and Srinivas
(30), which helped South Zone, struggling at one stage, to
gain the lead.
East Zone had made 398 in the first innings.
Resuming at 243 for two, Prasad, who was
on 93, completed his century in the company of Vijay Bharadwaj.
Prasad's 104 came in 345 minutes off 228 balls, with the
help of 14 fours and two sixes.
Bharadwaj added 29 more runs to his overnight score of
19, before being dismissed by L R Shukla with the score 284
for three.
South Zone sufferred another quick blow, when Utpal
Chatterjee dismissed Prasad, who spooned a catch to Zuffri.
At one stage, South Zone faced the threat of crumbling, when the score read 358 for 7. But Dodda Ganesh and Badani,
who resumed play after retiring yesterday following back pain,
came to their side's rescue. Ganesh made 24.
East Zone had a shaky start to their second innings,
losing opener Parag Das, trapped leg before by Dodda Ganesh
off his very first ball.
At close, East were 25 for one, with Parida on 13 and S
Lahiri (11) at the crease.
North Zone inching towards victory
North Zone were comfortably placed in
their Duleep Trophy match against Central Zone,
needing 112 runs for victory after having bowled out Central
Zone cheaply in their second innings in Indore on Thursday.
Central Zone collapsed for 175 in their second innings.
North Zone had scored 26 for one by close of the third day
of the three-day match.
kash Chopra (18) and Sangram Singh
(3) were at the crease.
Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 288 for six
in the first innings, North's Akash Chopra and Sharandeep
Singh batted comfortably and added 150 runs for the seventh
wicket, to take the score to 348. But J P Yadav then trapped
Chopra leg before at his indivudual score of 143 (4x23).
Sharandeep Singh was just short of six runs from his
century, when he was stumped by Rohit Jhalani off Kulmani
Parida. His 94 included 12 fours and one six.
Yadav then claimed the remaining two wickets of Rahul
Sanghvi (4) and Shakti Singh (23) to end the North Zone first
innings at 407 and enabling his side to take a 39-run lead.
Central Zone began their second innings on a poor note as
Shakti Singh bowled Jyoti Yadav in the second over itself at
one. Though captain Gagan Khoda and Paresh Sutane added 57
runs for the second wicket, their effort was checked by
Sharandeep Singh who claimed Sutane's wicket.
Except Sutane (50, 4x8, 6x1), Gagan Khoda (28), J P Yadav
(24, 4x2 6x2) and Devendra Bundela (24), no other Central Zone
batsman contributed much and got out cheaply.
For North Zone, Sharandeep Singh claimed five wickets for
49 while Vineet Sharma claimed three for 43.
Mail Cricket Editor
