North ride on VRV’s spell

It has been VRV Singh’s Duleep Trophy final so far. After taking five wickets in the first innings, the tall medium-pacer continued his superb showing at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. His second successive five wicket-haul helped North Zone restrict West for just 231 runs on Day 3 of the five-day encounter. With 166 runs to chase in two days, North are on 75/3 at stumps.

With southpaw Shikhar Dhawan batting on 44 and dependable Yashpal Singh (15) at the crease, North are at the verge of clinching their 17th title. Earlier, West continued to disappoint despite a powerful batting line-up with wickets falling at regular intervals. With VRV in the best form of his life, it took only two sessions for North to bundle out West.

Ajinkya Rahane, who has had an outstanding series so far, was the only batsman who looked in good nick for the West. Rahane added 43 runs to the team score while Yusuf Pathan fired a quick 61.

Brief Scores: West Zone 273 & 231 (A Rahane 43, Y Pathan 61, R Dhruv 41, R Solanki 33; VRV Singh 5/86) vs North Zone 340 & 75/3.