Duleep Trophy: Sai Kishore takes seven as South Zone seize control over North

Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore stole the show with a seven-wicket haul as South Zone seized the all-important lead against North Zone on the third day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal in Salem, Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

Meanwhile in Coimbatore, Prithvi Shaw's blistering 142 (140 balls, 15 fours, 4 sixes) helped West Zone set Central Zone a massive target of 501 in the other semifinal.

Tamil Nadu spinner Sai Kishore, who has been impressive in the white ball formats, came up with a superb showing, snaring seven wickets as North Zone were for dismissed for 207 in 67 overs.

Resuming at 24/0, Dhull and Manan Vohra (27) pushed North Zone's first innings score to 67 before off-spinner K Gowtham (2-68) removed Vohra. Dhull, who had slammed a ton in the quarterfinal against East Zone, followed Vohra into the pavillion four runs later as he nicked Sai Kishore to keeper Ricky Bhui.

North slipped to 116/4 as captain Mandeep Singh (14) and Dhruv Shorey (28) were dismissed in quick succession. Himanshu Rana (17) and Nishant Sindhu (40, 64 balls, 4x4, 2x6) put on 48 runs for the fifth wicket.

Sai Kishore broke the partnership when he trapped Rana leg before and then ran through the lower order with Sindhu waging a lone battle at the other end.

Sai Kishore, who won the IPL 2022 title with Gujarat Titans, finished with 7-70 as South Zone secured a massive lead of 423 runs.

South did not enforce the follow-on and chose to bat a second time. Rohan Kunnummal, who scored a ton in the first essay, came with a quickfire 77 (72 balls) as South ended the day at 157/1.

Brief scores: South Zone 630/8 declared in 172.overs (Rohan Kunnummal 143, Hanuma Vihari 134, Ricky Bhui 103 not out) and 157/1 in 28 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 77, Mayank Agarwal 53 batting) vs North Zone 207 all out in 67 overs (Nishant Sindhu 40, Yash Dhull 39, Dhruv Shorey 28, R Sai Kishore 7-70). (Toss: South).

Central 33 for 2 in pursuit of 501 for win

West Zone reduced Central to 33/22 after setting a massive target of 501 in the other semifinal in Coimbatore. Prithvi Shaw, who went after the bowlers on Friday and hit a whirlwind ton, continued to torment to Central as he moved to 142 from 140 balls (15x4, 4x6) to help extend the lead.

Shaw was dismissed by Karan Sharma with the West score at 200 but that did not end Central's ordeal. Armaan Jaffer (49) and wicketkeeper-batter Het Patel (67) frustrated the opposition attack and put the match virtually out of Central's grasp.

Patel was the last wicket to fall for 67 as West were bowled out for 371. Left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya Singh was the best among Central bowlers taking three wickets to add to his first innings haul of 5-66.

When Central began its chase of 501, Chintan Gaja struck an early blow by removing Yash Dubey (14). Later, spinner Shams Mulani got Himanshu Mantri (18) to leave the team in trouble at 33/2 with the last day's play remaining.

Brief scores: West Zone 259 all out in 85.4 overs (Rahul Tripathi 67, Prithvi Shaw 60, Shams Mulani 41, Kumar Kartikeya Singh 5-66) and 371 all out in 104.4 overs (Prithvi Shaw 142, Het Patel 67, Armaan Jaffer 49, Kartikeya Singh 3-105) vs Central Zone 128 all out in 40.1 overs (Karan Sharma 34, Tanush Kotian 3-17, Jaydev Unadkat 3-24) and 33/2 in 9.2 overs. (Toss: Central).