Abhinav Mukund and Amit Verma combined technical competence and wonderful stroke selection to help South Zone bat its way to an unbeatable position in the four-day Duleep Trophy cricket semifinal against Central Zone at the end of the third day, here on Friday.
South Zone, which declared its second innings at 504 for seven 3.3 overs after tea, set Central Zone a victory target of 770.
When Central began its second essay, both Akash Chopra and Hrishikesh Kanitkar got out to uncharacteristic strokes off left-arm fast bowler Sreenath Aravind. Central finished the day at 73 for two, still needing 697 runs to win the match.
Earlier, the 21-year-old Mukund (164, 216b, 4x22, 6x3) could not have found a more dependable and aggressive partner in Verma (148, 161b, 4x17, 6x4) in pushing Central virtually out of contention. It was a merciless onslaught on the hapless Central bowlers by both Mukund and Verma, who showed the right blend of technique and temperament.
South Zone resumed at 132 for two with Mukund on 60 and Verma yet to open his account. The two put on 234 runs off 42 overs in the morning session during which the bowling was clueless as they found gaps at will. Off-spinner Akshay Wakhare was disappointing on this pitch and his morning spell read 14-1-87-0.
Enjoying himself
Mukund seems to enjoy batting at this venue as he scored his third first-class century — he had scored a double century against Hyderabad in a Ranji Trophy match in 2009-2010 and followed it up with a century in each innings in this match.
According to HCA scorers Mir Sami Al and Ravi Kumar, this left-handed Tamil Nadu batsman has become the ninth batsman to hit a century in each innings of a Duleep Trophy match. The others are Dinesh Karthik (twice), Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, Akash Chopra, Bhaskar Pillai, Wasim Jaffer, Kevin Petersen and Lalchand Rajput.
Verma, the 23-year-old southpaw from Bangalore, was not far behind as he too notched up the rare feat of scoring a century before the lunch break and selected Akshay Wakhare for special treatment, often walking down the track to hit towering sixers.
If Central was hoping for some sort of declaration, the South captain S. Badrinath was thinking otherwise. He let his batsmen enjoy their outing in the middle and at one stage even M. Gautam (78, 79b, 4x9, 6x1) was looking good for a hundred.
The scores: South Zone — 1st innings: 443.
Central Zone — 1st innings: 178.
South Zone — 2nd innings: A. Mukund c Bundela b Umesh 164; R. Uthappa c N. Ojha b Pankaj 59; D. Karthik lbw b Bundela 9; A. Verma c M. Mishra b Wakhare 148; M. Gautam c (sub) Saxena b Umesh 78; Vinay c Wakhare b Kanitkar 25; A. Mithun c N. Ojha bt A. Wakhare 0; P. Ojha (not out) 8; Extras (b-2, lb-4, nb-1, w-6): 13; Total (for seven wkts. decl. in 100.3 overs): 504.
Fall of wickets: 1-87, 2-131, 3-367, 4-427, 5-487, 6-488, 7-504.
Central Zone bowling: R.P. Singh 11-3-36-0, Pankaj 16-2-69-1, Umesh 11.3-1-63-2, Bundela 18-0-92-1, Wakhare 31-3-153-2, Kanitkar 11-0-62-1, Chopra 2-0-23-0.
Central Zone — 2nd innings: A. Chopra c Uthapa b S. Aravind 8, M. Mishra (batting) 30, H. Kanitkar c Verma b S. Aravind 0, N. Ojha (batting) 33; Extras (lb-1, w-1): 2; Total (for two wkts. in 15 overs): 73.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-19.
South Zone bowling: Vinay 5-0-22-0, Mithun 2-0-7-0, Aravind 4-1-15-2, Ojha 3-0-24-0, Badrinath 1-0-4-0.
