CHENNAI: Skipper Minnu Mani’s six-wicket haul helped South Zone reduce West Zone to 230 all out on day two of the senior women’s inter-zonal multi-day trophy in Pune. For West Zone, Yastika Bhatia (64) and Devika Vaidya (41) tried to revive the innings but failed to close down on South Zone’s 289 in the first innings.
In the second semi-final, North Zone skittled from 90 for three to 144 all out, courtesy of Mamta Paswan’s five-wicket haul and Deepti Sharma’s four wickets. Dhara Gujjar’s half-century took East Zone to 282 for nine in the second innings and now they lead North Zone by 270 runs.
Arundathi Reddy, fresh off her efforts with the bat in the first innings, gave South Zone the first breakthrough when Riya Chaudhari was caught behind for one late on Wednesday. Opener Vaidya and Bhatia added 61 runs for the second wicket before Minnu bowled the former to break the partnership.
Bhatia found a partner in Bhavana Goplani, but the captain stood up again to reduce West Zone to 132 for three. After Bhatia’s wicket for 64, West Zone went through a mini collapse when they lost three wickets in the span of 15 runs, including that of Anuja Patil, who scored a century in the quarter-final, as captain Smriti Mandhana (30) watched from the other end.
Radha Yadav’s knock of 39, batting down the order, took West Zone past 200, but Minnu and Sunanda Yetrekar cleaned up the last four wickets for just 35 runs. After taking the lead of 59 runs, South Zone opener M Durga helped pile on that lead as her 29 led the way for South Zone to take the lead of 117 runs. At the end of the day’s play, South Zone were 58 for two. In case, there is no result today, South Zone will qualify for the final based on their lead in the first innings.
Brief scores: South Zone 289 all out & 58/2 in 30 ovs (M Durga 29) vs West Zone 230 all out in 70.5 ovs (Yastika Bhatia 64; Minnu Mani 6/73); East Zone 132 all out & 282/9 in 80 ovs (Dhara Gujjar 58; Mannat Kashyap 4/72) lead North Zone 144 all out in 41.3 ovs (Shafali Verma 58; Mamta Paswan 5/58).