Vidwath Kaverappa (four for 44) sliced through a strong West Zone line-up to give South Zone the edge on the second day on their Duleep Trophy final at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.
On another day cut short by rain and bad light, West Zone slid to 129 for seven, 84 runs short of South Zone’s first innings total.
West Zone was cruising towards gaining the innings lead at 97 for one, with Prithvi Shaw and Harvik Desai going strong. Desai (21, 61b, 3x4) threw away his wicket, chasing a wide delivery from Kaverappa.
Shaw (65, 101b, 9x4) was in excellent touch, collecting boundaries with a cover-drive masterclass. The Mumbai batter succumbed to the bouncer ploy from V. Vyshak. Shaw attempted an upper cut to the pacer, and ended up caught at third-man.
Suryakumar Yadav started his knock with a pull for six. A bit of extra bounce from Kaverappa pinned Suryakumar on the crease, gaining an edge to Hanuma Vihari at slip.
Sarfaraz Khan exited for a duck soon after, trapped on the pads by Kaverappa.
South Zone opener R. Samarth may have failed with the bat, but a fantastic catch made him an instant hero. Samarth’s reflexes came to the fore at leg gully, when he latched on to a well-timed flick from Cheteshwar Pujara. The massive wicket of mainstay Pujara (9, 38b, 1x4) left West Zone in deep trouble at 123 for six.
Just before rain arrived for the third time in the day, Shams Mulani was prised out by Vyshak.
In the morning session, South Zone could only add 31 runs to its overnight tally. Left-arm spinner Mulani was the most successful bowler for West, claiming three wickets.
Frequent heavy showers, which is likely to affect the rest of this outing, allowed for only 58.4 overs of action.
The scores:
South Zone —1st innings: R. Samarth b Gaja 7, Mayank Agarwal c Sarfaraz b Sheth 28, Tilak Varma c Harvik b Nagwaswalla 40, Hanuma Vihari b Mulani 63, Ricky Bhui c Harvik b Gaja 9, Sachin Baby c Suryakumar b Mulani 7, Washington Sundar (not out) 22, Sai Kishore c Sarfaraz b Nagwaswalla 5, Vyshak Vijaykumar c Jadeja b Mulani 13, Vidwath Kaverappa c Gaja b Jadeja 8, V. Koushik c Desai b Jadeja 0, Extras (b-2, lb-3, nb-4, w-2): 11; Total (in 78.4 overs): 213.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-42, 3-121, 4-138, 5-158, 6-165, 7-176, 8-202, 9-213.
North Zone bowling: Nagwaswalla 19-3-62-2, Gaja 16-7-27-2, Jadeja 19.4-6-33-2, Sheth 15-3-47-1, Sarfaraz 1-0-10-0, Mulani 8-2-29-3.
West Zone —1st innings: Priyank Panchal c Agarwal b Koushik 11, Prithvi Shaw c Kaverappa b Vyshak 65, Harvik Desai c Bhui b Kaverappa 21, Cheteshwar Pujara c Samarth b Kaverappa 9, Suryakumar Yadav c Vihari b Kaverappa 8, Sarfaraz Khan lbw b Kaverappa 0, Atit Sheth (batting) 5, Shams Mulani c Bhui b Vyshak 0, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (batting) 4, Extras (b-5, lb-1): 6; Total (for seven wkts, in 45 overs): 129.
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-97, 3-101, 4-114, 5-116, 6-123, 7-124.
South Zone bowling: Kishore 7-1-24-0, Kaverappa 16-5-44-4, Koushik 10-1-26-1, Vyshak 12-0-29-2.
