South Zone poised for victory

West Zone were struggling at stumps on the penultimate day of their Duleep Trophy match against South Zone at the Usharaje ground in Indore, on Saturday.

Set a victory target of 419, West were 60 for 3 in their second innings.

In the other match at Gwalior, a fine knock of 80 by Rohan Gavaskar enabled East Zone amass 330 runs in the second innings against Central Zone

At stumps on the penultimate day, Central had lost five wickets for 145 runs in their second innings.

East had scored 245 in the first innings, during which Gavaskar scored 106. 

Central's first innings had wound up for 130.

Resuming at the overnight score of 65 for two, South Zone declared their second innings at 307 for nine, setting West Zone a target of 419 runs, which included a first innings lead of 111.

For South Zone, V V S Laxman (50; 4x6) and S Badrinath (65 4x6) added 99 runs for the fourth wicket, while A T Rayudu (50 4x3 6x4) and Arjun Yadav (38 4x4 6x1) collected 56 runs for the sixth wicket to put their team in a commanding position.

Despite Siddharth Trivedi's haul of five wickets, the South scored 307 for nine declared in the second innings. The declaration came after back pain forced Laxmipathi Balaji to remain out of action for the whole day.

Paceman Zaheer Khan and Rajesh Pawar took two wickets each for West.

Chasing a stiff target, West Zone suffered an early jolt when C Poojara (05) was trapped leg before by Robin Uthappa.

S Sreesanth and Anil Kumble then took a wicket each to mount early pressure on West Zone.

Unseasonal rain interrupted the match towards the end of the day for a while, but it resumed soon after.

Scorecard

South Zone (1st innings): 291

West Zone 1st innings: 180-9

South Zone (2nd innings):
D Karthick b S Trivedi 17
R Uthappa c P Patel b Z Khan 0
Y V Rao c J Martin b S Trivedi 27
VVS Laxman c A Mazumdar b R Pawar 50
S Badrinath c R Jadeja b Z Khan 65
A Rayudu c R Jadeja b R Pawar 50
Arjun Yadav b S Trivedi 38
A Kumble c P Patel b S Trivedi 6
S Sreesanth c P Patel b S Trivedi 19
P P Ojha not out 0
L Balaji (did not bat)
Extras: (nb 14, wb 2, lb 3, by 11) 30
Penalty: 05
Total: (307 for 9 declared) 307

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-45 3-67, 4-166, 5-196, 6-252, 7-286, 8-299, 9-307.

Bowling: Z Khan 23-6-69-1, S Trivedi 17.4-4-57-5, R Pawar 20.5-2-69-2, R Jadeja 27-6-80-0, C Poojara 0.1-0-01-0, R Sharma 1-0-12-0.

West Zone (2nd innings):
C Poojara lbw b R Uthappa 5
D Jadhav batting 28
R Sharma c G Rao (sub) b S Sreesanth 7
J Martin b A Kumble 19
Extras: (lb 1) 1
Total: (60 for three in 25.1 overs) 60

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-20, 3-60.

Bowling: S Sreesanth 8-2-26-1, R Uthappa 5-3-7-1, A Kumble 7.1-2-15-1, P P Ojha 5-0-11-0.