South Zone bowlers displayed the desired discipline and struck at regular intervals to bundle out Central Zone for 178 but its captain S. Badrinath surprised everyone by not enforcing the follow-on on the second day of the four-day Duleep Trophy semifinal here on Thursday.
Earlier, South, resuming at 416 for eight, was dismissed for 443 after 5.4 overs in the morning.
And, when South batted for the second time, opener Abhinav Mukund (60 batting, 85b, 10x4, 1x6) and the free-stroking Robin Uthappa (59, 41b, 11x4) made the Central bowling look very ordinary.
By close of play, South had extended the lead to 397 runs with eight wickets still in hand.
Earlier, contrary to expectations, the bowlers held the upper-hand even as the formidable Central batting line-up came a cropper.
Fast bowlers Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and left-armer Sreenath Aravind came up with accurate spells.
It was Aravind who struck the first blow, sending back Central's big hope Aakash Chopra, who nicked an away-going delivery to second slip.
Soon, Vinay took a diving catch on his follow-through to send back Mohnish Mishra.
Central Zone captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar too disappointed, chasing a wide ball from Mithun to see Badrinath take a fine catch at gully.
Then Central suffered a body blow when India discard Mohd. Kaif (on 20) had to leave the field in the first over after lunch with a fractured left wrist, after trying to fend off a rising delivery from Vinay.
The only highlight of Central's batting was 20-year-old Ashok Menaria's knock (79 not out, 63b, 10x4, 3x6). He hit left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha for three huge sixes.
However, South did not let the tail wag. Manish Pandey showed his catching ability with a terrific, diving effort at first slip to send back Pankaj Singh off Badrinath as the batsman leaned into a drive.
The scores:
South Zone — 1st innings: A. Mukund c Kanitkar b R.P. Singh 105, R. Uthappa c N. Ojha b R.P. Singh 1, S. Badrinath (run out) 13, M. Pandey c Ojha b Umesh Yadav 218, D. Karthik c N. Ojha b Umesh Yadav 37, A. Verma c N. Ojha b A. Wakare 19, C.M. Gautam c R.P. Singh b Pankaj Singh 0, Vinay Kumar b Pankaj Singh 5, A. Mithun c N. Ojha b Umesh Yadav 28, P. Ojha b R.P. Singh 11, S. Aravind (not out) 0; Extras (b-2, lb-3, w-1): 6; Total (in 95.4 overs): 443.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-56, 3-230, 4-294, 5-347, 6-350, 7-372, 8-416, 9-437, 10-443.
Central Zone bowling: R.P. Singh 26-3-106-3, Pankaj Singh 22-2-85-2, Umesh Yadav 23.4-3-103-3, Wakhare 21-2-114-1, Bundela 3-0-30-0.
Central Zone — 1st innings: A. Chopra c Pandey b Aravind 4, M. Mishra c & b Vinay 28, H. Kanitkar c Badrinath b Mithun 8, M. Kaif (retd. hurt) 20, N. Ojha c A. Mukund b Vinay 8, D. Bundela c Gautam b Mithun 11, A. Menaria (not out) 79, R.P. Singh c Karthik b Aravind 5, A. Wakhare lbw b P. Ojha 5, Pankaj Singh c Pandey b Badrinath 0, Umesh Yadav c Vinay b P. Ojha 2; Extras (b-2, lb-1, nb-2, w-3): 8; Total (in 51 overs): 178.
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-36, 3-41, 4-77, 5-106, 6-116, 7-174, 8-175, 9-178.
South Zone bowling: Vinay 14-2-50-2, Mithun 12-2-41-2, Aravind 13-4-30-2, P. Ojha 10-0-45-2, Badrinath 2-0-9-1.
South Zone — 2nd innings: A. Mukund (batting) 60, R. Uthappa c N. Ojha b P. Singh 59, D. Karthik lbw b Bundela 9, A. Verma (batting) 0; Extras (lb-4): 4; Total (for two wkts. in 28 overs): 132
Fall of wickets: 1-87, 2-131.
Central Zone bowling: R.P. Singh 6-2-21-0, Pankaj Singh 7-0-34-1, Umesh Yadav 3-0-32-0, Bundela 6-0-20-1, Wakhare 6-2-21-0.
