Duleep Trophy: Mandeep's ton helps North zone consolidate

Mandeep Singh's brilliant century helped North Zone consolidate its position against West Zone on the opening day of the Duleep trophy semi-final match at Motibag palace ground in Vadodara on Wednesday.

Mandeep cracked 114 runs in 205 balls, studded with 14 fours and one six as North Zone finished day one at 315 for five after captain Amit Mishra elected to bat.

Mandeep added 104 runs with Mithun Manhas (58) to lift North Zone from 60 for two in 21.2 overs to 164.

Uday Kaul (55) and Mishra (32) then engaged in an unfinished 86-run partnership to help consolidate their position and were unbeaten when stumps were drawn.

North Zone started on a disastrous note, losing Sarul Kanwar at a score of two runs in the first over. Kanwar was clean bowled by J Unadkat.

Mandeep then teamed up with Shikar Dhawan (21) and added 48 runs for the second wicket for stabilizing the innings. The partnership ended when Dhawan was out after being caught by Khadiwale off Murtuza Vahora.

After the fall of Dhawan, Mandeep and Manhas took up the responsibility and after a fruitful stand their third wicket partnership was cut short by spinner B Bhatt who had Manhas caught by Cheteshwar Pujara.

In a stay of 84 minutes at the crease, Manhas made 58 runs hitting 10 fours and a six facing 68 balls.

Yashpal Singh could make only 30 runs and got out at a total of 212 runs. Mandeep then became a vitim of Unadkat, who got him caught by a Rahane.

Unadkat took two wickets, while S Fallah, Vahora and Bhatt took one wicket each.

Scorecard:

North Zone 1st innings

S Kanwar b Unadkat 2

S Dhawan c Khadiwale b Vahora 21

Mandeep Singh c Rahane b Unadkat 114

M Manhas c Pujara b Bhatt 58

Yashpal Singh lbw b Fallah 30

U Kaul not out 55 123

A Mishra not out 32

Extras: 3 (b 1, w 2)

Total: 315-5 (91 overs)

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Kanwar, 0.3 ov), 2-60 (Dhawan, 21.2 ov), 3-164 (Manhas, 43.5 ov), 4-212 (Yashpal Singh, 61.5 ov), 5-229 (Mandeep Singh, 67.6 ov)

Bowling: JD Unadkat 19-3-76-2-4.00(1w), SM Fallah 19-7-44-1-2.31, MY Vahora 17-3-53-1-3.11 (1w), RA Jadeja 14-1-65-0-4.64, BA Bhatt 22-4-76-1-3.45.