CHENNAI: Despite half-centuries by Devdutt Padikkal (62) and Tilak Varma (56 batting), South Zone struggled to fight back against East Zone as they crawled to 242/6 in 80 on Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy final here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Having conceded 708, South Zone faced an uphill task on Tuesday as the match was set to be decided based on first-innings lead. However, they had a horror start, losing opener and vice-captain Ricky Bhui early in a soft dismissal. The Andhra batter was caught down the leg side off Mukesh Kumar early on. Soon N Jagadeesan (32) too failed to convert his start, giving a straightforward catch to the point fielder off a half-tracker from Shikhar Mohan.
Padikkal, meanwhile, continued his good form from Sri Lanka and cruised to a breezy fifty. With Shaik Rasheed for company, Padikkal tried to build a partnership. And the South Zone needed it considering the mountain in front of them. They stitched a 56-run partnership for the third wicket. Rasheed played a subdued innings and was looking to consolidate his good start.
However, Mohammed Shami extracted reverse swing to remove Rasheed for 27. Padikkal, meanwhile, had a soft dismissal, hitting a harmless delivery off Mukesh straight to the deep square-leg fielder.
Coming in at 126 for 3 Tilak Varma waged a lone battle to hold on to the innings with Shreyas Gopal for company. The duo raised 66 runs in 155 balls. Just before close of play Gopal was unlucky to be caught and bowled by Md Kounain Quraishi.
Varma curtailed his flamboyance and played to the merit of the ball. He avoided aerial shots and played as straight as possible. Gopal was stubborn in his defence and even blocked short pitched ones which he would have sent to a boundary in normal circumstances.
Ishan Kishan kept shuffling his two main speedsters Shami and Mukesh to distract the concentration of Varma and Gopal. But the South Zone duo totally avoided risks and even played out a maiden over or two. Shami put his experience to effective use through the course of the day. Mukesh was precise for most part of his spell, but once or twice erred in length.
Already a bowler down due to Anukul Roy's injury, Ishan kept operating spinners from one end and pace from the other. When Ishan was off the field, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi led the team and was picking the brains of senior bowlers like Shami whenever required. The teenager even bowled a few overs, trying to extract the uneven bounce that was on offer on the red soil surface that had started to deteriorate.
Vaibhav bowled four overs and gave just ten runs. He at times pitched short and got the lines wrong but both Varma and Gopal did not risk going for shots as their team's situation was bad and played down the overs quietly. With two days left and still a mountain to climb, South will look to take session by session and bat through the fourth day.
Brief scores: East Zone 708 in 163 ovs vs South Zone 242/6 in 80 ovs (N Jagadeesan 32, Devdutt Padikkal 62; Shami 2/17, Mukesh 2/36).
