BENGALURU: When the duo of Ankit Sharma and C Andre Siddarth walked back to the South Zone dressing room at tea, the team rose in unison. There were a lot of claps as well across the empty facility inside the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
One could understand the excitement of the South team, to be fair. For the vast majority of the first three days, they were behind the eight ball after being invited to bat first. Since then, Central Zone had done a lot of the running as they piled on the runs, before finishing with 511 for a lead of 362 runs.
When the players trudged off for lunch on Day Four, the match was seemingly headed in only one direction. After losing wickets at regular intervals, they were precariously placed at 249/6.
Sharma and Siddarth had joined hands at 222 but the inning's dying embers appeared to be round the corner. However, that wasn't to be the case as the duo stitched together a mini-epic on an increasingly hot day on the outskirts of the city. The temperature wasn't the only thing that rose in the afternoon.
Gradually, South's hopes rose.
Sharma, 34, and Siddarth, 19, are at the opposite spectrums in terms of their career. The former has played over 65 first-class games. The latter hasn't even played 65 days worth of first-class cricket. For over 52 overs, they combined to frustrate the Central Zone spinners with their mix and match style of batsmanship.
The advantages of the left-right combination was frequently on display as they complemented each other well. If Sharma had an inclination to whip spinners through the on side or employ the sweep, Siddarth was more than happy to use his long levers to hit down the ground. Crucially, though, they also trusted their defence as they were happy to present the full face of the blade on a fourth day track. It must also be said that the deck, for the vast part of the day, was quiet.
This knock will do both a world of good for different reasons. For Siddarth, earmarked for a bigger role with Tamil Nadu this upcoming season, he has shown the management that he's ready to come up the order. After a big first year which has taken him to the zonals, the teen is set to grow.
But ultimately though, what will rankle is the way Sharma got out. After being patient and showing discipline, the southpaw got a bit edgy on 99. That's when he played a nothing shot where he ended up lofting a drive straight to Rajat Patidar off Kumar Kartikeya.
It all went a bit pear-shaped after that as they lost the last four wickets for 11 runs.
On Monday, Central Zone will aim to clinch a title they had last won 11 years ago.
Brief scores: South Zone 149 and 426 in 121 ovs (Smaran 67, Bhui 45, Siddarth 84 n.o, Ankit 99; Kartikeya 4/110, Saransh 3/130) vs Central Zone 511 in 145.1 ovs.