Riding on a fine 84 by Gautam Gambhir, North Zone clinched two points by virtue of a first innings lead of 155 runs over Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy in Jamshedpur on Monday.

A valiant knock of 46 by skipper J P Yadav on the fourth and final day went in vain as Central Zone finished on 102 for four off 38 overs in their second innings while chasing a target of 375 runs.

At close, Amit Pagnis remained not out on 27 and Abbas Ali on two.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 72 for one, North Zone rode on Gambhir's run making to score 219 for nine declared in their second innings.

Gambhir, who notched up 70 in the first innings, has been among runs this season but was not included today in the Indian team for the forthcoming series against South Africa.

The Delhi batsman opened on a confident note, adding 51 runs to his overnight score of 33. His 84 with 10 hits to the fence came off 162 deliveries before leg-spinner Piyush Chawla had him caught off T P Singh in the 30th over in the morning.

Central Zone scored 288 in their first innings in reply to North's 443, conceding a 155-run lead.

Chasing a target of 375 runs for an outright win, Central Zone suffered early setbacks after they lost opner S. Shukla for 17 and T P Singh for a duck.

Yadav, who joined Pagnis, hit up 46 including five fours and three sixes off 40 deliveries.

Off spinner Rajesh Sharma, who scalped three wickets in the first innings, struck to have Yadav caught off Yashpal Singh at mid-off region.

Earlier, middle-order batsmen Yashpal Singh (32) and skipper R Mithun Manhas (22) scored for North while seamer Praveen Kumar and Chawla did the damage for Central.

While Praveen Kumar returned a rich haul of 5 for 42, Chawla finished with figures of 4 for 93 for Central Zone which had already conceded two points to East Zone by virtue of the first innings lead at Gwalior.

Scorecard

North Zone: 1st innings: 443
Central Zone: 1st innings: 288

North Zone: 2nd innings:
A Chopra c N Ojha b Chawla 29
G Gambhir c T P Singh b Chawla 84
R Ricky c and B P Chawla 17
Y Singh c JP Yadav b Praveen Kumar 32
M Manhas c T P.Singh b Praveen 22
M Rawat c Anand Rajan b Praveen Kumar 0
J Sharma b Praveen Kumar 12
G Singh c Karthik b Chawla 00
A Nehra c Naman Ojha b Praveen Kumar 02
R Sharma not out 02
VRV singh did not bat
Extras ( b-9. Lb-7, nb-3) 19
Total (off 69.5 overs for nine declared) 219

Fall of wicket: 60-1, 118-2, 175-3, 183-4, 183-5, 208-6, 215-7, 217-8, 219-9.

Bowling: Praveen Kumar - 21.5-5-42-5, Anand Rajan - 16-4-52-0, P.Chawla - 27-3-93-4, T P Singh - 5-0-16-0.

Central Zone (2nd innings)
A Pagnis not out 27
S Shukla run out Manhas 17
T P Singh c and b Manhas 00
J P yadav c Y Singh b R Sharma 46
Praveen Kumar c Manhas b R Sharma 03
Abbas Ali not out 02
Extras ( lb-2, nb-5) 07
Total ( for four wickets off 38 overs) 102

Fall of wickets: 33-1, 33-2, 91-3, 95-4

Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 4-2-2-0, J Sharma 2-0-17-0, VRV Singh 3-0-12-0, R Sharma 15-6-38-2, M Manhas 13-3-31-1, A Nehra 1-1-0-0.