If the second day of the Duleep Trophy final seemed like South Zone had run away with the game, Friday’s (October 31) third day proved that Central were not out of it yet. Ali Murtaza grabbed a four-for to help bowl South out for 379 and a strong start from Faiz Fazal and Jalaj Saxena helped Central reach 214 for 4, a lead of 111 runs with two days left to play.
Robin Bist, the first-innings hero for Central remained unbeaten on 26 alongside Mahesh Rawat (11 not out) as play ended early at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi due to bad light.
South would have been a tad disappointed considering they resumed in the morning at 308 for 4, with KL Rahul on 168. Hanuma Vihari reached his half-century in 69 balls and made his intent clear with two sixes off the Central spinners.
A maiden double-century seemed to be there for the taking for Rahul, but he fell for a 233-ball 185, with 19 fours and two sixes. Piyush Chawla, who had been put through the wringer on Thursday, managed to get one to slip past Rahul and crash into middle and leg.
The wicket sparked a stunning collapse, with South losing five wickets in the space of ten overs. The three-figure mark eluded Vihari, who dragged a delivery from Murtaza onto his stumps for 75, as South were all out in 90.3 overs.
Fazal and Saxena then continued the fightback, adding 68 runs in 12 overs before the lunch break. They continued in similar fashion in the second session, the opening stand yielding 128 runs, before Pragyan Ojha gave South the breakthrough. The left-arm spinner trapped Saxena in front for 71 and South managed to keep a check on the run-rate thereafter.
A short ball from R Vinay Kumar after tea proved the undoing for Fazal (72), but it was the spinners who were getting more purchase from the wicket. Shreyas Gopal removed Naman Ojha for 27, who fell top-edging to Robin Uthappa in the slips, but Shreyas was fortunate to get the wicket of Ashok Menaria (0) in the dying stages of the day. The ball rapped Menaria outside leg, but Anil Chaudhary, the umpire, raised his finger and the batsman had no choice but to leave.
Brief scores: Central Zone 276 & 214/4 in 62 overs (Faiz Fazal 72, Jalaj Saxena 71, Naman Ojha 27, Robin Bist 26 n.o.; R Vinay Kumar 1-56, Pragyan Ojha 1-52, Shreyas Gopal 2-43) v South Zone 379 all out in 90.3 overs (Robin Uthappa 80, KL Rahul 185, G Hanuma Vihari 75; Pankaj Singh 3-67, Ali Murtaza 4-59, Piyush Chawla 2-92).
Murtaza, openers lead fight back
