The Hindu : Sport : South makes the most of North's largesse

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Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005

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Sport

South makes the most of North's largesse

By Our Sports Reporter

CRACKING SHOT: South Zone's Robin Uthappa punishes North Zone's Ashish Nehra in the Duleep Trophy match at Indore.

INDORE, MARCH 1 . North Zone regretted the dropped catches as South Zone got past the 300-run mark on the first day of the Duleep Trophy cricket match at the MPCA Stadium here on Tuesday.

North captain Virender Sehwag put down two catches during the day, while rusty Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra conceded runs in plenty as South finished the day at 327 for nine.

The staid wicket and uneven outfield came in handy for the batsmen though in the morning the outfield was a bit slow. But the bright sunny day took care of that and opener Robin Uthappa revelled under the conditions. A century was always in the reach, but his over-ambitious stroke undid it and was out for 80.

At the end of the first day, South has surely unsettled North, which needs just to draw the match to make it to the final. North though has a better run quotient than West, 1.83:1, but having allowed South 300-plus runs the equation may bring West into the picture. Both North and West have four points each while South has yet to open its account.

The only way South can nudge ahead is to beat North with a bonus point. But that possibility appears bleak given that the pitch poses no real threat. Though the runs came in easily, at the end of the day South would rue the rash strokes that allowed North to pick up wickets at regular intervals.

North tasted early success with the wicket of opener Swapnil Asnodkar. In the third over of the day, Asnodkar sprinted down before realising that Gautam Gambhir had made a clean stop at mid-off. A direct hit left Asnodkar well short of the crease. South steadied itself as S. Sriram, who joined Uthappa, sent Harbhajan Singh all over the ground before Nehra put a check, extracting reverse swing from the far end.

A yorker-length delivery swung in and castled Sriram after the two were associated in a century stand. Nehra was again at it as he tempted Uthappa with a bouncer. Having made a composed 80 off 96 balls with 15 boundaries, Uthappa fell into the trap and hooked for Harbhajan to complete an easy catch.

The Indian off-spinner, coming back from his 15-day stint in Australia, where his suspect action was put to test, seemed rusty. A slight twitch on his left thigh also added to his discomfort, but Sehwag insisted he bowl as much as he could. Coming in for the off-colour Amit Bhandari, Harbhajan was sent on a leather hunt forcing Sehwag to pull him out. Harbhajan was later introduced from the pavilion end, but the South batsmen were unmoved.

Laxman compiled 55 off 91 balls (seven fours), while S. Sharath had 11 hits to the fence in his 60 as the pair put on 87 runs for the fifth wicket. Nehra deceived Laxman while Amit Mishra (two for 70) caught Sharath off his own bowling to leave South at 266 for six.

Wicket-keeper Dinesh Kaarthick proved his worth holding one end till the close. He was batting on 49 having faced 106 balls in 124 minutes and hit seven fours.

The scores:

South Zone — 1st innings: R. Uthappa c Harbhajan b Nehra 80, S. Asnodkar (run out) 4, S. Sriram b Nehra 25, V.V.S. Laxman c Bisla b Nehra 55, Anirudh Singh lbw b Harbhajan 3, S. Sharath c and b Mishra 60, D. Kaarthick (batting) 49, S. Joshi lbw b Mishra 2, L. Balaji c Bisla b Nehra 20, M. R. Shrinivas lbw b Harbhajan 0, R. Vinay Kumar (batting) 2. Extras (b-2, lb-5, nb-20) 27, Total (for nine wkts in 90 overs) 327.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-116, 3-125, 4-145, 5-232, 6-266, 7-268, 8-298, 9-299.

North Zone bowling: Nehra 23-1-110-4, Bhandari 14-1-52-0, Harbhajan 29-6-88-2, Mishra 23-5-70-2, Mongia 1-1-0-0.

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