DULEEP DAY 1 REPORT
Follow UsAtit Sheth special saves West Zone from blushes
For the kind of top-five they had, West Zone was always going to be a tough nut to crack for Central Zone in the first semi-final at the KSCA Oval in Alur. But cricket is not played on paper, and the Priyank Panchal-led squad realized it pretty quickly. After being reduced to 65/5 at one point, West Zone ended the Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy semi-final at the KSCA Oval in Alur on 216/8.
After negotiating well for 16 overs without losing a wicket, the floodgates were opened with Prithvi Shaw, Priyank Panchal, Suryakumar Yadav, and Sarfaraz Khan returning to the pavilion in the first session itself, leaving them reeling at 56/4.
The overcast conditions in Alur helped Yash Thakur and Shivam Mavi move the ball both ways, but the duo was unlucky as well. It was commendable that they persisted at it. Prithvi Shaw got a reprieve when Vivek Singh dropped a simple catch at second slip, but the joy didn't last long enough for the Mumbaikar as Saurabh Kumar induced a catch in the 16th over, with Dhruv Jurel, who replaced Kunal Chandela in the XI, diving to take a solid catch.
All eyes were on Suryakumar Yadav and Cheteshwar Pujara to arrest the collapse. While Pujara was steadfast, taking a one-ball-at-a-time approach under the cloudy skies, Yadav was impatient. His instinct to move across the wicket resulted in Mavi inducing an edge to Vivek Singh, which was duly put down. But on the very next ball, Jurel gobbled one to ensure his innings was cut short at 7.
The post-lunch session started dramatically. Avesh Khan castled Het Patel with a nip-backer. Pujara's defiance didn't last long either, as a needless attempt to play an uppercut against Shivam Mavi turned out to be his kryptonite, with Amandeep Khare safely taking the catch at slip.
In an unfortunate event, Rinku Singh and Avesh Khan collided at the long-off boundary while attempting a catch and so intense it seemed that Ambulence had to be alerted. Turned out Rinku had a minor hit, but Avesh was taken off the ground instantly and went for a scan.
With Central being one bowler short, they had to rely on Saransh Jain to bowl from the other end, but Atit Sheth sensed an opportunity to play the most important innings of the day. He guarded one end up single-handedly before Dharmendrasinh Jadeja joined him to provide a calming presence. The duo rebuilt the innings brick by brick to forge a 73-run partnership, before Jain got the better of Jadeja. But, by then, they had already sailed the West to a decent spot.
South lose four after bundling North for 198
Fresh off from a 570-run win against North-East Zone last week, North Zone have found a strong reality check at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium when South Zone bundled them for 198 on the first day itself. But South Zone’s happiness didn’t last long, as Baltej Singh and Harshit Rana picked two wickets each to reduce them to 63/4 at the stumps on Day 1.
Karnataka’s Vidwath Kaverappa spared none in his ferocious spell of pace bowling, except for Prabhsimran Singh, who stood his ground long enough to have an impact. With rain interrupting the play twice in the day, bowlers had the conditions in their favour and Kaverappa exploited the same by accounting for five wickets of his own.
South Zone would have expected to do better, but Baltej Singh sent impressive B Sai Sudharsan and Karnataka’s star of the 2022-23 season R Samarth back in the hut in his first spell itself before Harshit Rana dismissed skipper Hanuma Vihari and Ricky Bhui on consecutive balls to spell doom for the hosts.
