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Journalism of Courage
The final day of the Duleep Trophy seemed to be a mere formality,but South Zone were in no mood to relax. On Sunday,it took only one session and seven overs for them to dismiss North Zone for a paltry 156,and register a massive 411-run victory.
With this win,South will fly home to Chennai to meet the Wasim Jaffer-led West Zone in the final starting on February 5. Having a star-studded team has turned out to be a big boost for South Zone in the ongoing tournament,with five different domestic captains making S Badrinaths job easier.
Rahul Dravid has captained India,Robin Uthappa led Karnataka this season,Arjun Yadav was the skipper of Hyderabad in VVS Laxmans absence,while Dinesh Karthik was at the helm in Tamil Nadu during the Ranji Trophy. It always helps to have players who are also skippers of other domestic teams. We get more ideas and our job becomes much easier, said Badrinath about his unique advantage.
But for all of Norths troubles,had the India-Sri Lanka series not happened,they wouldve been a different outfit altogether,because most of the star players were away on national duty.
A wicket in the first over from Laxmipathy Balaji,of opener Rahul Dewan,sent a clear message that Norths batting abilities would be scrutinised acutely as they set an ungettable 568 for victory attempted to salvage a draw.
Skipper Chopra (27) and Shikhar Dhawan added 70 runs for the second wicket and it was their only respectable partnership.
After Chopras dismissal,caught behind by wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik off M Suresh,wickets kept falling at regular intervals.
Sunny Sohal was run out, Uday Kaul was trapped lbw by R Ashwin,and Dhawan looked in good touch but gave a simple catch to leggie M Suresh to fall for 61. Leg-spinner Amit Mishras late 46 was too little,too late.
SCOREBOARD
South Zone (Ist Innings): 548
North Zone (Ist Innings): 300
South Zone 2nd Innings): 319 for 3 decl.
North Zone (2nd Innings): R Dewan c Pai b Balaji 0,S Dhawan c Karthik b Suresh 61,A Chopra c Karthik b Suresh 27,S Sohal run out 0,U Kaul lbw Ashwin 1,A Mishra c (sub) b Suresh 46,M Gony c Dravid b Balaji 1,V Malik c&b Balaji 4,P Awana not out 4,R Bhatia absent hurt,V Kohli absent hurt
Extras: (lb-9,nb-3) 12; Total (for 8 wkts,42.3 overs): 156. Fall of wickets: 1-0,2-70,3-70,4-72,5-122,6-123,7-128,8 -156.
Bowling: L Balaji 10-4-20-3,V Kumar 6-2-22-0,R Ashwin 13-2-4 9-1,S Babdekar 0.5-0-4-0,S Badrinath 1.1-0-4-0,M Suresh 11.3 -1-48-3
