South Zone on top as bowlers dominate

Paras Dogra made a swashbuckling unbeaten hundred to resuscitate North Zone after a horrid start, but two late wickets ensured that South Zone held the upper hand on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. On a pitch with some moisture that helped the seamers, South Zone chose to introduce Pragyan Ohja as early as the ninth over, and the strategy paid off immediately with Nitin Saini edging a looping delivery to CM Gautam behind the stumps.

Shikar Dhawan followed Saini one over later, slapping an Abhimanyu Mithun short ball that stopped on him straight to midwicket. Ojha limped off the field a little while later, having stopped a Mithun Manhas straight drive with his right ankle, but the seamers continued to make inroads. Manhas was bowled by one that nipped back from Vinay Kumar and when Mandeep Singh hit a fuller delivery down point's throat, North Zone were deep in the mire at 42 for 4.

Dogra had made a patient 8 from 29 balls at this stage, and set about repairing the innings in the company of Yashpal Singh. He was fairly circumspect to begin with, making sure to defend the good balls, but at the same time not missing out on the opportunities for boundaries when the bowlers erred in line or length. He began to open his shoulders with the introduction of S Badrinath, whom he dispatched for two sixes and two fours. The pair had added 99, taking the score to 141, when Yashpal fell to S Aravind for 32.

The loss of his partner did nothing to slow Dogra down, however. Having taken 103 balls to reach his fifty, he only needed a further 40 balls to get to his hundred, which he did in style, smashing Ohja over cow corner for six. Such was his confidence at this stage that one ball later he skipped down the track and went inside out over extra-cover for another six. He found an able ally in Uday Kaul, and the pair added 89 runs for the sixth wicket, scoring at 4.13 runs an over and giving the innings a sheen of respectability.

South Zone struck twice in the last 11 overs to wrest the initiative back. Kaul fell trying to hit Abhinav Mukund through the leg side, but only succeeded in getting a leading edge to cover. Then Vinay Kumar bowled Amit Mishra one ball after he was dropped at slip by Robin Uthappa to leave South Zone the happier side heading into the second day, despite the continued presence of Dogra.