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VRV Singh puts North in command

Special Correspondent

Mithun Manhas did not enforce the follow-on
Wriddhiman Saha hit an unbeaten fifty for East

Rajkot: North Zone’s Vikram Raj Vir Singh gave a superb exhibition of seam bowling at the Race Course ground here on Tuesday. The tall Punjab speedster bowled 12 overs on the trot, made the East Zone batsmen defenceless and has virtually carried his team into the final of the Duleep Trophy championship.

Generating a maximum speed of 137 kmph and averaging around 135kmph, V.R.V. Singh bowled two batsmen neck and crop, trapped as many leg before and forced East’s best batsman, Shiv Sundar Das to edge to the ’keeper.

Maiden five-wicket haul

He was penalised nine times for overstepping, but what ultimately mattered was his five for 59, his first five-wicket haul in the competition. His outstanding effort put North up by 217 runs on the first innings after it had posted 360 in the first innings.

North was in a position to enforce the follow-on, but Mithun Manhas opted to keep East on the field and ended the day at 109 for the loss of Shikhar Dhawan and Karan Goel. Aakash Chopra compiled an unbeaten half-century.

But having sent down only 22 overs in East’s first innings, North’s seamers — V.R.V. Singh and V.S. Malik — were far from weary and may have been denied an opportunity and would hope to wrap up the match on Wednesday.

Defiant essay

Former India opener S.S. Das looked good as long he lasted, and after his dismissal, Wriddhiman Saha, showed sound defence and played attractive strokes to make a fine undefeated half-century (52 not out, 91b, 9x4).

Apart from V.R.V. Singh, leg-spinner Amit Mishra picked up two wickets in 11 overs, while second leg-spinner Chetanya Nanda picked up as many off three balls.

“I enjoyed my training sessions in Australia (physical and bowling) and worked with bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad. There is bounce on this pitch and good carry. One has to make an effort to extract bounce,” said V.R.V. Singh, who went as replacement for the injured Zaheer Khan to Australia after the first Test at Melbourne.

The scores:

North Zone — 1st Innings: A. Chopra b Paul 10, S. Dhawan c H. Das b Mohanty 18, K. Goel b Paul 0, M. Manhas c sub (Sourav Sarkar) b Behera 88, Yashpal Singh c H. Das b Paul 25, R. Bhatia c S.S. Das b Mohanty 24, U. Kaul c A. Das b Paul 48, A. Mishra c W. Saha b Paul 52, C. Nanda b T. Saha 58, Malik b T. Saha 13, V.R.V. Singh (not out) 20; Extras (nb-4) 4; Total (in 108 overs) 360.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-28, 3-28, 4-82, 5-161, 6-183, 7-259, 8-289, 9-314.

East Zone bowling: Mohanty 18-9-39-2, Bose 21-2-65-0, Paul 28-6-106-5, T. Saha 21-2-102-2, Behera 17-1-38-1, Majumdar 3-0-10-0.

East Zone — 1st Innings: S.S. Das c Kaul b V.R.V. Singh 23, A. Das lbw b V.R.V. Singh 7, A. Majumdar b V.R.V. Singh 8, W. Saha (not out) 56, M. Vardhan lbw b V.R.V. Singh 0, H. Das b V.R.V. Singh 8, T. Saha c Nanda b Mishra 4, D. Mohanty b Mishra 8, R. Bose lbw b Nanda 4, S.S. Paul c Dhawan b Nanda 0, N. Behera (absent hurt); Extras (b-6, lb-2, nb-17) 25; Total (in 33.3 overs) 143.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-34, 3-69, 4-69, 5-93, 6-105,7-114, 8-143, 9-143.

North Zone bowling: V.R.V. Singh 12-2-59-5, Malik 10-1-50-0, Mishra 11-2-26-2, Nanda 0.3-0-0-2.

North Zone — 2nd Innings: A. Chopra (batting) 56, S. Dhawan lbw b Mohanty 4, K. Goel c H. Das b Bose 34, M. Manhas (batting 12); Extras (lb-1, nb-2) 3; Total (for two wkts. in 28 overs) 109.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-91.

East Zone bowling: Mohanty 5-0-15-1, Bose 8-2-31-1, T. Saha 9-1-44-0, Paul 4-2-8-0, Majumdar 2-0-10-0.

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