North Zone restrict Lanka A

North Zone made the most of their decision to bowl first in the Duleep Trophy final, dismissing Sri Lanka for a modest 296 on the first day of the five-day match at Eden Gardens.

North Zone made the most of their decision to bowl first in the Duleep Trophy final, dismissing Sri Lanka for a modest 296 on the first day of the five-day match at Eden Gardens.

Pace duo Joginder Sharma (2/33) and Gagandeep Singh (3/67) struck the crucial blows, before off-spinner Rajesh Sharma (4/85) mopped up the tail on a wicket that showed signs of slowing down.

Kudos to the Lankan middle-order, as Chamara Silva top-scored with a gritty 84 and Malintha Warnapura (65), Jehan Mubarak (39) and stumper Kaushal Silva (27) rallied to extricate the team from a precarious 48 for 3.

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By close of play, the experienced opening pair of Aakash Chopra (39) and Gautam Gambhir (7) had raced to 51 without loss, reducing Sri Lanka A’s lead to 245.

As the islanders showed how to go about stemming the rot, North’s star pacer Ashish Nehra had a forgettable outing, conceding 87 runs off 16 overs, sans wicket. And it was Joginder who largely stole the show with his deceptive bowling, particularly in the first session.

While Nehra struggled with the new ball from one end, Joginder, replacing Gagandeep, cleaned up the lanky left-hander Michael Vandort (14) and had skipper Thilan Samaraweera (0) caught behind off successive overs.

In-form southpaw Warnapura did what he does best, blazing away with a quick-fire fifty before Gagandeep had him caught spectacularly by Yashpal Singh at third slip. Later he snapped up Chamara to bring North back into the reckoning.

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Just when Lanka appeared to get away with the crafty Kaushal forging a good partnership with Chamara (88 runs for the sixth wicket), came a blinder from Joginder, who’s darting direct-hit from point ran out the hesitating stumper by yards.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka A 296 in 69.1 overs (Chamara Silva 84, Malintha Warnapura 65, Jehan Mubarak 39; Rajesh Sharma 4/85, Gagandeep Singh 3/67, Joginder Sharma 2/33) v North Zone 51/0 in 11 overs (Aakash Chopra batting 39, Gautam Gambhir batting 7).