North Zone have all but secured the Duleep Trophy semi-final berth after West Zone’s competent-looking batting line-up crumbled against Ishant Sharma’s accuracy and speed in their first innings on the penultimate day at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Monday, writes the Deccan Chronicle.
In reply to North’s total of 484, an abject West could only muster 164 and in turn handing over a massive 320-run lead.
North, understandably not wanting to overwork their bowlers, decided against the follow on. At stumps, North were 30 for no loss in 14 overs.
Meanwhile, The Hindu writes that After bowling out West for 164, North didn’t enforce the follow-on. In the second innings, North ended the day on 30 for no loss with an overall lead of 350. The drudgery of an inconsequential final day’s play looms large as with such a huge first-innings lead, North is all but through to the semifinals.
For West, disaster struck very early. With a blow in the second over of the day, it was reduced to six for two. Opener Kaustubh Pawar’s hesitant forward push to Ishant resulted in the ball flirting with the bat and rolling on to the stumps.
North’s pace troika — Ishant, Parvinder Awana, and Rishi Dhawan — demonstrated the indubitable virtues of raw pace. All the three bullied the batsmen with speed and healthy bounce.
Rishi shot down Murtuja Vahora’s stumps but it was Ishant who led the raid with viciousness; he prised out a wicket in each of his three spells (twice in the first over of a new spell).
His chief weapon was the delivery that slanted in and skidded off the turf. Ishant’s tussle with West skipper Cheteshwar Pujara, however brief it was, made for good viewing.
West’s sole act of defiance came through the 72-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Parthiv and Bhushan Chauhan.