Pacer Vidwath Kaverappa picked up 5/29 to help South Zone bowl out North Zone for 198, though they were left reeling at 63/4 in first semi-final of Duleep Trophy, here on Wednesday. In the other semi-final, all-rounder Atit Sheth staged a rescue act to take West Zone from 110/6 to 216/8 against Central Zone.
Under overcast skies at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where 14 wickets fell in a day, Kaverappa was the star in bowling out North Zone below 200. Barring Prabhsimran Singh, who top-scored with 49, none of the other North Zone batters could stand up against a quality South Zone bowling attack.
Put into batting first, North Zone were reduced to 18/3 in the first hour, before Prabhsimran and Ankit Kumar (33) steadied the innings with a crucial 79-run stand. After the duo fell, Harshit Rana made a quick 22-ball 31, but wasn’t able to take North Zone past 200 as Washington Sundar (1/44) took him out.
In reply, Baltej Singh struck by removing B Sai Sudharsan and R Samarth in quick succession. Hanuma Vihari, making a comeback to competitive cricket after recovering from a forearm fracture, was out for a four-ball duck to Rana.
One brought two for North Zone as Ricky Bhui was out on the very next ball as South Zone ended the day at 63/4, with Mayank Agarwal and Tilak Varma remaining unbeaten on 37 and 12 respectively.
In the other semi-final at the Alur Cricket Ground, West Zone openers Prithvi Shaw and Priyank Panchal shared a 43-run opening stand, before the former was dismissed by left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar. In the next over, Yash Thakur came in to trap Panchal lbw.
West Zone suffered a double jolt at 56 when Suryakumar Yadav was caught behind off Shivam Mavi while Sarfaraz Khan fell for a 12-ball duck to the Central Zone skipper. When Avesh Khan castled Het Patel, West Zone were in tatters at 65/5.
Sheth came out to bat and began the rebuilding act by sharing a stand of 45 runs with Cheteshwar Pujara (28). After Pujara became Mavi’s third victim, Sheth and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (39) added 73 runs for the seventh wicket to stabilise West Zone innings, before the duo fell by the time the day’s play ended.
Brief Scores:
North Zone 198 in 58.3 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 49, Ankit Kumar 33; Vidwath Kaverappa 5/28, KV Sasikanth 2/52) lead South Zone 63/4 in 17 overs (Mayank Agarwal 37 not out; Harshit Rana 2/19, Baltej Singh 2/21) by 135 runs
West Zone 216/8 in 90 overs (Atit Sheth 74, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 39; Shivam Mavi 4/43) against Central Zone
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