West meet Central in final

VISAKHAPATNAM, December 13: South Zone's S Sharath slammed a brilliant century but West Zone entered the final of the Duleep Trophy champio...

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VISAKHAPATNAM, December 13: South Zone’s S Sharath slammed a brilliant century but West Zone entered the final of the Duleep Trophy championship at the Ukku Stadium, near here, today. On the fifth and final day, the match, expectedly ended in a draw and West booked their berth in the final against Central Zone but not before overcoming a few anxious moments.

Sharath and Dodda Ganesh raised visions of an incredible fightback with a 77-run eighth wicket partnership but a lapse of in concentration on the part of the Tamil Nadu batsman ended his 336-minute tenure at the crease and along with it ended the hopes of South Zone.

South were cruising comfortably at 260 for seven with Sharath on 111 and Ganesh on 25. Nilesh Kulkarni produced a beauty to force Sharath to offer a bat-pad catch and a in a jiffy South innings folded up at 262 giving West Zone the vital 59-run first innings.

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Beginning the day at 160 for six, South overnight batsmen Sharath and Raju started well gathering runs without any difficulty. Raju used all his experience and played a commendable supporting role to the left-handed Sharath who looked more aggressive than yesterday.

But suddenly Raju lost his cool and went for a needless lofted shot only to be caught at long off. His 20 runs came off 140-minute stay during which he looked like a perfect batsman. He and Sharath added 73 runs which came off 38.1 overs.

Sharath and Ganesh then continued to frustrate West bowlers. West skipper Nayan Mongia tried every trick including taking the new ball but could not break the stand. Sharath and Ganesh greeted the new ball with flurry of strokes. Sharath played straight drive and a hook in the first over from Paras Mhambrey with the new ball. South added 91 runs to the total in the pre-lunch session taking the score to 254 for seven. Nilesh Kulkarni beat Sharath in the forward defense immediately after resumption to have him caught at short leg and that ended the South chances. Bahutule was arguably pick of West bowlers. He troubled the batsmen with his flight and spin. Kanitkar finished with three wickets and Mhambrey with two wickets.

In the second innings West started very badly losing first innings centurion Wasim Jaffer in the first over bowled by Ganesh. West score was 101 for three when the play was stopped after the seventh mandatory over.

SCOREBOARD

West Zone (1st innings): 321

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South Zone (1st innings): S Somasundar lbw Mahmbrey 0, A Pathak c Kulkarni b Mhambrey 13, VVS Laxman st Martin b Bahutule 46, S Sharath c Paranjape b Kulkarni 111, HK Badhani c Jaffer b Bahutule 10, MSK Prasad lbw Kanitkar 0, S Joshi b Kanitkar 5, V Raju c Jaffer b Kanitkar 20, D Ganesh c Kulkarni b Bahutule 25, D Johnson c Kulkarni b Bahutule 0, N Madhukar (not out) 1

Extras (6b,5lb, 18nb, 2w) 31.

Total (all out in 109.3 overs) 262.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-38, 3-79, 4-93, 5-101, 6-110, 7-183, 8-260, 9-260.

Bowling: Paras Mhambery 21-5-50-2, Sukhbir Singh 7-0-42-0, Nilesh Kulkarni 29-11-54-1, Sairaj Bahutule 29.3-0-79-4, Hrishkesh Kanitkar 23-9-26-3.

West Zone: (2nd innings): W Jaffer lbw Ganesh 4, S Kotak (run out) 27, A Muzumdar c Joshi b Ganesh 46, H Kanitkar (not out) 5, J Martin not out 5; Extras (4b, 9lb, 1w) 14; Total (for three wickets in 35 overs) 101.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-80, 3-88.

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Bowling: Ganesh 10-1-34-2, Madhukar 5-0-18-0, Raju 9-3-23-0, Joshi 11-6-22-0