BANGALORE: The left-handed leg-spinner Marripuri Suresh, the Cuddapah lad from Andhra Pradesh all but secured for South Zone an outright victory with his career-best first class haul of 6 for 84. But Central Zone hung on by the skin of their teeth to force a draw at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, the game being called off after 67.4 overs.
South had booked their semifinal place on the penultimate day. They now take on North Zone at Rajkot from Jan 29.
Set to make a highly improbable 381 in just a little over two sessions of play at over five an over, Central lacked the kind of batting to even plan for a chase. It was a question of some of their wickets remaining in tact at the end of it all. They scrambled to a mere 255 for 9 with skipper Mohammed Kaif producing another responsible knock of 87 before being the 9th man out. Pankaj Singh and the yet to surface Umesh Yadav were still there as the game drew to a draw.
South added a mere 32 runs to their overnight total of 345 for 6 to set up the stiff target of 381 to their opponents.
Pankaj Singh it was who got all three wickets to fall. He induced Dinesh Karthik and L. Balaji to edge behind hte sticks to Naman Ojha who ended up with five catches and a stumping.
Pankaj in the bargain emerged as the highest wicket-taker with figures of 5 for 90.
The Central openers Tanumay Srivastava and Shivkant Singh did play some good looking drives. But once leg-spinner Suresh was brought in, Central’s sage of survival had begun.
With his very first delivery that he held back a little, Suresh forced Srivastava to drive on the up and snapped an easy return catch. From then on it was Suresh who was the cynosure as he varied his flight, got sufficient turn and forced the batsmen to make mistakes with some intelligent bowling. He scalped two more after lunch and then finished it off with three late strikes. In between his spoils, Robin Uthappa chipped in with three strikes and Central was forced on the back foot all the way.
Wickets fell at regular intervals and South took complete command. Mohd Kaif found able allies in Parvinder Singh and Piyush Chawla. The threesome built up useful partnerships and, more importantly forced a draw.
Scoreboard
South Zone (1st innings) 329 Central Zone (1st innings) 326 South Zone (2nd innings, overnight 345-6) D Karthik c N Ojha b Pankaj 103, R.
Ashwin (not out) 27, L Balaji c N Ojha b Pankaj 5, S Sreesanth b Pankaj 0. Extras (b-8, lb-9, w-1, nb-6) 24. Total (all out) 377. Fall of wickets: 7-345, 8-377, 9-377.
Bowling: Pankaj 23.3-5-90-5; Bhuvaneshwar 23-3-66-2; Umesh 24-3-88-1; i Kartik 15-3-56-1; Parvinder 4-1-17-0; Chawla 9-0-43-0.
Central Zone (2nd innings): T Srivastava c & b Suresh 44, S Shukla c Dravid b Suresh 31, Goud c Uthappa b Suresh 10, Kaif c sub b Uthappa 87, Parvinder c Karthik b Suresh 34, N Ojha c Karthik b Suresh 2, Bhuvaneshwar c Uthappa b Suresh 7, Chawla c b Uthappa 22, Kartik c sub b Uthappa 0, Pankaj (not out) 5.
Extras (b-1, lb-7, nb-5) 13. Total (9 wkts) 255. Fall of wickets: 1-71, 2-86, 3-98, 4-155, 5-161, 6-184, 7-232, 8-232, 9-255.
Bowling : Balaji 5-1-17-0; Sreesanth 11-1- 43-0; Uthappa 8.4-1-26-3; Ashwin 23-1-77-0; Suresh 20-1-84-6.