Vikramjeet Singh Malik’s 27 wickets for Himachal Pradesh in the Ranji season earned him a North Zone berth. Today the 24-year-old justified his inclusion with his sixth first class 5-wicket haul. Malik returned figures of 16-4-44-5 on the opening Duleep Trophy day against South Zone at the Motera to wrap up the rival innings for 157 runs in 55.5 overs. However, North batsmen squandered the initiative to end the day at 104 for 5. With the pitch offering consistent bounce, Malik struck in the ninth over of the day, sending back opener Swapnil Asnodkar, who played an in-coming delivery away from the body. Then he got Murali Vijay lbw. Then the medium pacer disturbed the timber of in-form Subramanium Badrinath and South Zone were suddenly 43 The bowler struck twice more in quick succession to end his enviable first spell (9-1-29-5). With four ducks on the scoresheet, South were 84/8 at one stage. But Vinay Kumar (41 not out) and Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna (31) added 68 for the ninth wicket to give some respectability. The stand was broken by Delhi bowler Rajat Bhatia. Then Bhatia ran through the tail, the last four wickets costing 13. North put on 58 for the opening wicket, but a late flurry of wickets brought South back into the game. Yashpal Singh (24 not out) and Bhatia wanted to see the day off, but left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha claimed the wicket of Bhatia. Brief scores: South Zone 157 (V Kumar 41 n.o., R Teja 41; Malik 5/44, Bhatia 4/13) vs North Zone 104/5 (A Chopra 37, Y Singh not out 24).Yusuf hits 51-ball tonIn Rajkot on the opening day, a sparkling century by Yusuf Pathan and fifties by the openers helped West Zone to 349/7 against Central. Pathan’s ton came off 51 balls with 12 fours and five sixes. He and Cheteshwar Pujara added 136 for the fifth wicket. Pathan scored 107.Earlier, Sahil Kukreja and Ajinkya Rahane hit up 124 runs for the opening wicket.Brief scores: West Zone 349/7 (Y Pathan 107) vs Central Zone.
