The Hindu : Sport : Badrinath, Dravid score at will

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Badrinath, Dravid score at will

Nandakumar Marar

— Photo: S. Subramanium

IN FINE TOUCH: South Zone’s S. Badrinath sent the North Zone team on a leather-hunt at Rajkot.

RAJKOT: Amit Mishra may have got a sinking feeling when he stretched out at gully, then grassed a slash from Rahul Dravid. The India stalwart capitalised on it to come up with a stroke-filled 138 off 173 balls.

S. Badrinath twisted the knife in further by stepping out to the North Zone leg-spinner for four sixes, three in one over, apart from 24 boundaries for an audacious 200 off 259 balls. South Zone amassed 442 for six in 90 overs in their Duleep Trophy semifinal encounter.

Partial amends

Mishra partially made amends with a googly to dismiss Dravid, trapped Dinesh Karthik leg before for his second strike with the ball, but gave away 149 runs and bowled 15 no-balls in 26 overs.

Pacer Vikramjit Malik, off whose bowling the catch was dropped with the batsman on five, said, “Dravid is a great batsman. Once you let him get away, he will get you.”

The Badrinath-Dravid third-wicket stand, worth 312 in just 354 balls, moved South from a position of anxiety at 13 for two into a commanding position at stumps on the opening day.

Badrinath’s forceful driving off the front foot, whiplash pulls to mid-wicket and cleanly hit sixes in the region of the sightscreen off Mishra stood out. Dravid’s controlled knock included rasping square cuts and elegant frontfoot play, 18 boundaries and 251 minutes of flowing batting.

Badrinath opted to bat on a wicket expected to help bowlers in the first hour till the moisture lasted. “I enjoyed my time out in the middle. The bowlers were fast and the ball came on nicely,” remarked the South captain, whose century came off 143 balls, the latter got there in 127.

Kohli injured

Virat Kohli suffered a shoulder strain after a tumble at deep mid-wicket and has been asked to get an MRI done. S. Sreesanth did not figure in the playing squad due to sickness, according to Badrinath.

Saurav Bandekar got the nod. North opted for Mishra as the lone specialist spinner, leaving out Sarandeep Singh.

The scores:

South Zone — 1st innings: A. Mukund lbw b Malik 10, R. Uthappa lbw b Gony 1, S. Badrinath c Kaul b Gony 200, R. Dravid b Mishra 138, D. Karthik lbw b Mishra 4, A. Yadav (batting) 43, R. Ashwin lbw b Malik 17, M. Suresh (batting) 0; Extras (lb-5, nb-23, w-1): 29; Total (for six wickets, in 90 overs): 442.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-13, 3-325, 4-331, 5-407, 6-441.

North bowling: Gony 18-1-71-2, Malik 21-1-98-2, Bhatia 13-1-52-0, Awana 8-0-47-0, Mishra 26-1-149-2, Kohli 3-0-16-0, Dewan 1-0-4-0.

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