It would be an understatement to say that North Zone is favourites to retain their Duleep Trophy title.
However, that also happens to be a deduction based on the happenings on the third day of the final at the Wankhede Stadium. After dismissing West Zone cheaply (231) in their second innings on Thursday, North finished the day on 75 for three, needing 91 more runs to retain their title with seven wickets in hand.
Save for a miracle, North should retain their title comfortably and also ensure the scheduled five-day contest ends with more than a day-and-a-half to spare.
Having dominated the match on the opening day and surviving a first innings slump to retain their advantage on the second, North forced West to completely subjugation on the third day.
The West, having conceded a vital 66-run lead in the first innings despite having reduced North to 274 for 9 at one stage, needed to put runs on the board to keep their interests alive. However, that is precisely something that they couldn't do their second innings total (231) being less than their efforts in the first essay (274).
Having said that, due credit must also be given to the North bowlers for their persisting efforts. VRV Singh followed his fiver in the first innings (5-91) with another five-wicket haul in the second (5-86) his third in two Duleep Trophy games this season.
Also read: VRV lets his bowling do the talking
The 23-year-old struck in the day's first over West opener Sahil Kukreja (4) edging to 'keeper Uday Kaul. In walked their first innings' highest scorer Ajinkya Rahane and he put on a 49 for the second wicket with Wasim Jaffer before a delivery from left-armer Ashok Thakur clipped the latter's off stump. Jaffer replicated his first innings effort in the second, scoring 23 again.
West skipper Parthiv Patel (3) again failed with the bat edging a Vikramjeet Singh Malik delivery to Karan Goel at first slip and in his very next over the 24-year-old from Himachal cleaned up Cheteshwar Pujara with a cracking inswinger. Pujara achieving a pair in the final.
And soon after their total passed the 100-run mark, West lost the crucial wicket of Rahane (43), trapped leg before by VRV. Yusuf Pathan (61) and Rakesh Solanki (33) offered some respite with a 59-run stand for the sixth wicket before the former top-edged a delivery from Amit Mishra to substitute Dogra at short fine leg.
Pathan was impressive during his flamboyant 51-ball knock that contained 10 hits to the fence and his mistimed sweep was a severe blow to West's expectations. Solanki continued bravely, putting on another 55 runs for the seventh wicket with Rakesh Dhruv (41) before VRV returned to polish off the tail.
The Punjab pacer banged one short outside the off stump and Solanki slashed it straight to Shikar Dhawan at wide third man. Sandeep Jobanputra edged the very next delivery to Goel at first slip and VRV was on a hat-trick.
Rajat Bhatia snapped up Ashraf Makda (0) caught by Goel again in the next over and although Dhruv survived VRV's hat-trick ball, hit a boundary two balls later, before being caught by Mishra at mid-on to help VRV complete his second five-wicket haul in the match.
Needing a paltry 166 runs to win, North had a disastrous start losing three wickets in the space of 12 runs. Aakash Chopra (12), Goel (1) and captain Mithun Manhas (1) failed for the second time in the match as North were reduced to 40 for three.
However, Dhawan (with an unbeaten 44) and Yashpal Singh (15 not out) not only ensured there was no further damage but also helped North reach a comfortable position at stumps.
Scorecard:
West Zone (1st innings): 274
North Zone (1st innings): 340
West Zone (2nd innings, overnight 2/0):
S Kukreja c Kaul b Singh 4
W Jaffer b Thakur 23
A Rahane lbw b Singh 43
P Patel c Goel b Malik 3
C Pujara b Malik 0
Y Pathan c sub (P Dogra) b Mishra 61
R Solanki c Dhawan b Singh 33
R Dhurv c Mishra b Singh 41
S Jobanputra c Goel b Singh 0
A Makda c Goel b Bhatia 0
S Trivedi not out 0
Extras: (b 2, lb 8, nb 13) 23
Total: (all out in 60 overs) 231
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-56, 3-66, 4-70, 5-108, 6-167, 7-222, 8-222, 9-227, 10-231
Bowling: VRV Singh 18-0-86-5, VS Malik 14-3-62-2, AK Thakur 11-3-21-1, A Mishra 15-2-45-1, R Bhatia 2-0-7-1
North Zone (2nd innings, target:166 runs):
A Chopra lbw b Trivedi 12
S Dhawan not out 44
K Goel c Patel b Makda 1
M Manhas c Jaffer b Trivedi 1
Y Singh not out 15
Extras: (lb 2) 2
Total: (for 3 wickets in 26 overs) 75
Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-39, 3-40
Bowling: S Trivedi 9-4-29-2, S Jobanputra 8-2-25-0, A Makda 9-3-19-1
