Atit Sheth rescues West Zone; Kaverappa takes 5 on 14-wicket day
South Zone 63 for 4 (Agarwal 37*, Tilak 12*, Rana 2-19) path North Zone 198 (Prabhsimran 49, Ankit 33, Sindhu 27, Kaverappa 5-28) by 135 runs
As many as 14 wickets fell on the Chinnaswamy Stadium on an intense day the place South Zone appeared to have taken the honours till they collapsed late within the day to even issues up.
Vidwath Kaverappa, the Karnataka quick bowler, picked up his third five-for as North Zone have been bowled out for 198. Barring Prabhsimran Singh, who top-scored with 49, not one of the different North batters capitalised in opposition to a top quality assault.
Then Baltej Singh eliminated B Sai Sudharsan and R Samarth in fast succession as North hit again. As stumps loomed, South captain Hanuma Vihari, not an evening watcher, strode out to take strike however he lasted all of 4 deliveries and was out to Harshit Rana. The rut did not finish there; Ricky Bhui was out subsequent ball. South ended on 63 for 4.
Earlier, South’s choice to bowl appeared to repay when North slipped to 18 for 3 inside the primary hour. Prabhsimran and Ankit Kumar steadied the innings with a 79-run stand, the one interval the place they appeared to have had some management over proceedings. Ankit’s dismissal as soon as once more uncovered a brittle decrease center order.
The match marked a comeback into first-class cricket for Washington Sundar, who completed with 1 for 44. Playing in his first red-ball recreation after six months, Sundar who has been on a gradual food plan of white-ball video games, primarily within the TNPL submit his hamstring damage that restricted his IPL participation, had the wicket of Rana, who made a breezy 31 at No. 9 to shore up the innings. Those runs might but be very useful as North try a comeback in opposition to a seemingly robust batting line-up.
West Zone 216 for 8 (Sheth 74, Jadeja 39, Pujara 28, Mavi 4-43) vs Central Zone
Atit Sheth‘s 74, an innings of laborious grind and flamboyance in equal measure, rescued West Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy semi-final after their star-studded high order collapsed in opposition to a disciplined Central Zone assault in Alur.
Sheth, the Baroda allrounder, got here into bat at 65 for five shortly after lunch, and revived the innings, first briefly with Cheteshwar Pujara after which with Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. He added 45 with Pujara, who battled by way of for 2 hours in his trademark vogue earlier than slashing a brief ball to the slips on 28.
Then West recovered as Sheth and Jadeja added 73 in below two hours to maintain the scoreboard ticking. Sheth performed some flowing drives in his knock of 129 deliveries through which he hit 9 fours and a six.
Easy on the attention, his footwork in opposition to spin was mighty spectacular. His method of countering Saurabh Kumar, contemporary off a career-best 8 for 64 within the quarter-final final week, was a mark of his confidence. He seldom performed in opposition to the flip, bought to the pitch and picked lengths early to showcase his full vary of photographs.
Jadeja was chancy, usually sweeping in opposition to the flip however doing so successfully to throw the bowlers off gear for a quick whereas submit tea. The partnership ended when offspinner Saransh Jain had him jabbing to crazy mid-off.
Earlier within the morning, West’s choice to bat first below overcast skies was a courageous one. Central’s tempo duo of Shivam Mavi and Avesh Khan stored Prithvi Shaw and Priyank Panchal trustworthy. Shaw, recognized to be a fast starter, reined himself in and did not hit a boundary till after the primary hour. He seemed strong for a lot of his keep on the crease earlier than a contemporary catch despatched him again for 26.
Shaw punched Saurabh straight to crazy level, the place the ball bought caught in between Dhruv Jurel’s pads as he tried to take evasive motion. He in some way managed to carry on to interrupt a 43-run stand. Exactly an over later, Yash Thakur had Panchal out lbw to a supply that nipped again in to hit him plumb in entrance.
Suryakumar Yadav walked in and performed a pleasant flick to stand up and working, however he ran out of luck early. After being reprieved within the slips, he was out chasing a large supply off the very subsequent supply as Mavi had a second wicket, with West slipping to 56 for 3. Sarfaraz Khan was subsequent. After 11 tentative deliveries, he was out chopping on to a lifter from Mavi.
Het Patel, picked as first- alternative wicketkeeper over Harvik Desai, then got here below scrutiny from Avesh Khan instantly after lunch. Two balls after being reprieved by a no-ball off which he drove loosely to the slips, he was bowled neck-and-crop taking part in down the flawed line. Avesh’s laborious size and late inward motion had him play down the flawed line as he was bowled.
From there on, it was Sheth’s rescue that ensured West crossed 200. Central’s bowlers briefly misplaced their plans in opposition to him, which resulted in Sheth profiting off just a few reverse sweeps late within the day earlier than he was Mavi’s fourth sufferer.
Mavi and Thakur shouldered a lot of the quick bowling workload for Central primarily as a result of Avesh spent a lot of the second and third session off the sphere as a precautionary measure following an on-field collision with Rinku Singh whereas making an attempt a catch.
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo