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North Zone enters Duleep final

Nandakumar Marar

Vadodara: The Duleep Trophy 2011 semifinal between West Zone and North ended in a draw, allowing North to cruise into the final on the strength of its first innings lead.

Resuming at 191 for three, North, riding on Mithun Manhas's unbeaten 158 (178b, 25x4), went past the 400-mark for the second time in the four-day tie, exposing the inability of West's bowlers to cash in on help from the track. West made 61 for three in its second essay as the match meandered to a draw.

The ability to trouble batsmen with the new ball on a lively Motibaug track was the difference between the two sides. North's frontline seamers made up for the absence of Ishant Sharma, who was named for the semifinals but stayed away.

Sumit Narwal and Joginder Sharma had gone all out in the first innings, with the former unplayable on the Motibaug track. The stocky seamer beat batsmen with his steep bounce and movement off the pitch for a match haul of six for 116.

The only point of interest on the fourth and final day was the five runs penalty on North after umpire Subrat Das warned Manhas for running on the pitch. West's first innings score thus was enhanced from 392 to 397. North captain Amit Mishra said that Ishant would be available for the final against South. “We have been told about Ishant's availability for the final. One of our bowlers, Pawan Suyal is injured,” said the leg-spinner.

He has a personal problem of run-up and no-balls to tackle. “No-balls happened because I was playing after a long time. In the second innings I cut it down to one, so with more matches I am confident of sorting it out.”

The scores: North Zone — 1st innings: 460.

West Zone — 1st innings: 397.

North Zone — 2nd innings: S. Kanwar c Jadeja b Bhatt 53, S. Dhawan c sub (Atitkar) b Unadkat 53, M. Singh c Shah b Fallah 23, M. Manhas (not out) 158, Y. Singh st Shah b Bhatt 42, U. Kaul c Kukreja b Bhatt 14, A. Mishra c Unadkat b Jadeja 6, J. Sharma c Jadeja b Bhatt 2, S. Narwal c Jadeja b Fallah 50, V. Mishra lbw b Fallah 0, P. Suyal c Shah b Fallah 4; Extras (b-8, lb-5, nb-1, w-2): 16; Total (in 88.5 overs): 421.

Fall of wickets: 1-79, 2-127, 3-157, 4-253, 5-285, 6-294, 7-304, 8-407, 9-407.

West bowling: Unadkat 23-4-121-1, Fallah 22.5-3-113-4, Bhatt 23-2-104-4, Jadeja 21-2-70-1.

West Zone — 2nd innings: H. Khadiwale c Kaul b Narwal 21, S. Kukreja c & b V. Mishra 12, A. Rahane c Joginder b V. Mishra 19, C. Pujara (not out) 4, J. Unadkat (not out) 1; Extras (nb-3, w-1): 4; Total (for three wickets, in 23 overs): 61.

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-52, 3-59.

North bowling: Narwal 6-3-14-1, Joginder 4-1-14-0, A. Mishra 8-1-28-0, V. Mishra 5-2-5-2 .

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