Bengaluru: North Zone’s bowlers stood out for their perseverance and control while maintaining pressure on the South Zone batters throughout the day.
Though North are far from pressing the panic button with the surface betraying no signs of wear and tear, they would have left a disappointed bunch after a gripping first session that had South staring down the barrel.
Once the wicket flattened out after some early assistance and as the ball turned old and soft, skipper Tilak Varma’s (106 n.o., 225b, 4×7) dogged persistence and all-rounder Shreyas Gopal’s defiance (87, 169b, 4×11) wrestled back the momentum towards South on the second day of the Duleep Trophy semifinals at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence here on Monday.
The damage though was minimised with South losing three wickets for two runs in the last 30 minutes of play. When the officials called time, South, 285/9 in 94 overs, had a handsome 90-run lead, with Tilak and Kavuri Saiteja (0 n.o., 7b) in the middle.
Having made the trip from Colombo to Bengaluru and joining the North Zone two days before the game, Gurnoor Brar (4/70) breathed fire and ripped through the South middle-order, reducing the hosts from 39/2 to 80/5.
Fortunately for South, the batting duo of Tilak and Shreyas put their heads down and got to work, frustrating the potent North attack that was a wicket away from sneaking into the tail. North bowlers had to wait for 271 minutes for the tide to turn.
As South Zone piled on the runs and the 175-run partnership continued through the afternoon, North peered on ruefully, aware that they fumbled after opting to bat first on a good wicket.
Tilak and Shreyas paced their partnership at a decent rate, and started to slowly flex their muscles in the third session. Tilak stood firm, growing in confidence and backing his defence, playing with discipline that some batters who were in the hut lacked.
Tilak reached his fifty in 149 balls and scored his first four came off the 154th delivery from Anshul Kamboj in the final over before tea, helping South take the first innings lead.
On the other hand, Karnataka’s crisis man Shreyas’ off-side batting was the highlight of his stay, playing some delightful late cuts and off-drives. The leg-spinner reached his fifty, his 21st in first-class cricket in 107 balls.
However, Arshdeep Singh (2/59) finally broke the partnership in the 87th over when Shreyas nicked it to the keeper. Tilak then hit seven fours from his 50 to 100, reaching eighth first-class hundred in 219 balls.
In the 90th over, Kamboj (2/53) picked up Tanay Thyagarajan (6).
Earlier, Brar bagged Narayan Jagadeesan (36, 63b) in the 11th ball of the day to kickstart their comeback. At No. 5, Smaran R (27, 35b, 4×4) looked like he would continue his good run from last season, getting off to a brisk start with three boundaries in his first eight balls.
Just when he looked set, Brar bowled him with a ball that angled in and moved away. The 26-year-old picked up Kodimela Himateja (0) two balls later to register his fifth four-wicket haul.
In the other semifinal, Harsh Dubey (4/66), Yash Thakur (3/66), Aryan Pandey (3/43) shared 10 wickets to bowl out East Zone for 266 in 57 overs after surviving Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s blitz (92), with both first-innings totals tied.
In their second essay, Central were 45/3 in 20 overs at stumps.
Brief scores: North Zone: 195 all out vs South Zone: (O/n 40/2): 256/6 in 87 overs (Narayan Jagadeesan 36, Tilak Varma 84 n.o., Smaran R 27, Shreyas Gopal 87; Gurnoor Brar 4-70)
Central Zone: 266 all out & 45/3 in 20 overs (Mukesh Kumar 2-14) vs East Zone: 266 all out in 57 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 69, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 92, Sudip Kumar Gharami 25; Aryan Pandey 3-43, Yash Thakur 3-66, Harsh Dubey 4-66).
South Zone’s R Shreyas Gopal scored an 87 while skipper Tilak Varma hit an unbeaten 106 on the second day of their Duleep Trophy semifinal against North Zone at BCCI’s CoE on Monday. dh photo/ prashanth hg