Mithun Manhas and Ajay Ratra shared a 103-run partnership to help North Zone gain a 95-run first innings lead over Central in the Duleep Trophy cricket match at the Devi Lal stadium on Sunday.
North, resuming at 35 for one, made 249 in reply to Central's 154 in the first innings, with Delhi middle-order batsman Manhas scoring 68 and India wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra remaining unbeaten on 47 on the second day.
Central were 22 for no loss in the second innings with Sanjay Bangar on 16 and Gagan Khoda on six at close.
The hosts suffered two batting failures on either side of the Manhas-Ratra association.
The pair rescued the team out of the muddle they found themselves in at 110 for four, after Aakash Chopra (33) and Yuvraj Singh (46) had pushed the total to 84 for one in the morning.
Veteran leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani (4-62) gave Central the breakthrough when he had the Test opener caught by Bangar.
Offie Kulamani Parida (1-49) then sent back Yuvraj Singh before Hirwani dismissed the in-form Dinesh Mongia (2) from a return catch.
Manhas and Ratra then showed tremendous application as they raised 103 runs from 229 balls in 134 minutes before another batting collapse ruined their good work.
Scoreboard:
Central Zone (1st innings): 154
North Zone (1st innings):
A Chopra c Bangar b Hirwani 33
G Gambhir b Yadav 4
Yuvraj Singh st Ojha b Parida 46
D Mongia c and b Hirwani 2
M Manhwas c Yadav b Kartik 68
A Ratra not out 47
Joginder Sharma c Saxena b Hirwani 4
Gagandeep Singh b Hirwani 7
Sarandeep Singh b Bangar 6
A Bhandari lbw b Pandey 2
V Bhatia lbw b Pandey 0
Extras (b-2, lb-1, nb-26, w-1) 30
Total (all out in 102.5 overs) 249
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-84, 3-90, 4-110, 5-213, 6-220, 7-233, 8-245, 9-249.
Bowling: Sanjay Pandey 15.5-4-30-2, Sanjay Bangar 8-4-17-1, J P Yadav 21-8-30-1, Kulamani Parida 14-2-49-1, Narendra Hirwani 22-0-62-4, Murali Kartik 22-5-58-1.
Central Zone (2nd innings):
S Bangar batting 16
G Khoda batting 6
Total (for no loss in 7 overs) 22
Bowling: A Bhandari 4-1-16-0, Gagandeep Singh 2-0-6-0, Joginder Sharma 1-1-0-0.
