Resuming from the overnight score of 12 for no loss, Central Zone, with some insipid batting were in a spot of bother at 74 for 2 from 36 overs, against East Zone in their first essay at stumps, on the fourth day of the Duleep Trophy final at Chepauk here on Wednesday. With the weather playing havoc right from the start of the final, the match on Wednesday began at 2.30 p.m.and also an hour’s of play was extended to make up for loss of time.
Central Zone openers Tanmay Srivastava and Vineet Saxena were too defensive and scored runs at snail’s pace. Although the outfield was a bit slow and the East bowling for the major part of the afternoon session was a bit accurate, it did not justify Central’s strategy of slow scoring. Perhaps the thought of two full days available to sail past East’s total of 232 made them opt for this strategy. Of the duo Tanmay was a bit enterprising, but Vineet who is known to be a good accumulator of runs in the domestic circuit was on Wednesday surprising sedate.
Tanmay looked solid in his defence and was the one who rotated the strike. As the game progressed he began to play more freely and a square drive off Iresh Saxena forced one to remember Aakash Chopra and Chris Tavare.
Vineet towards the end of the day stepped out and drove Iresh to the mid-wicket fence and while trying to do an encore, mis-timed Iresh to Basant Mohanty at mid-on.
The new man in, skipper Mohammad Kaif after an over or so appealed for bad light, but it was turned down. The very next over he got out, perhaps due to lapse in concentration. He failed to read an arm ball from Iresh who bowling a better line and length to be trapped in front. Thus from 66 for no loss , Central were 74 for 2. The funny part is that after Iresh’s over where he claimed Kaif’s wicket, the day’s play ended. With the rain threat still around for the next couple of days, Central will have to score runs at every given opportunity in order to take the all important lead.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ishank Jaggi’s unbeaten century (100 not out, 251b, 12x4) helped East post a respectable score. Jaggi with the generosity of Central fielders and some good resistance from the East tail, achieved the three figure mark. His innings showed what grit and determination could do help one stage a lone battle and do the rescue act.
East Zone (1st innings): Jadhav lbw J Saxena 25, N Behera c Bhuvneshwar b J Saxena 22, Majumdar c Saxena b Bhuvneshwar 13, Jaggi (not out) 100, I Saxena b J Saxena 16, S Tiwary c Rawat b Kartik 0, Samantray c Kartik b J Saxena 0, Gautam c Rawat b Praveen 34, Mohanty c Rawat b Pandey 2, Dinda b Pandey 0, A Mangaraj b Jalaj S Saxena 3, Extras (b 5, lb 5, w 1, nb 6) 17. Total (all out; 101.5 overs) 232.
Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-55, 3-64, 4-113, 5-116, 6-117, 7-174, 8-190, 9-190. Bowling: Praveen 21-8-41-1, Bhuvneshwar 13-5-37-1, Pandey 19-7-59-2, J Saxena 28.5-6-62-5, Kartik 20-10-23-1.
Central Zone (1st innings): Srivastava (batting) 46, V Saxena c Mohanty b I Saxena 22, M Kaif lbw b I Saxena 2, Bist batting 0. Extras (nb-4) 4. Total (2 wickets; 36 overs) 74. Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-74. Bowling: Dinda 9-3-24-0, Mohanty 10-3-18-0, I Saxena 8-1-23-2, Mangaraj 8-4-9-0, Samantray 1-1-0-0.
