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Cricket
North Zone's Yuveraj Singh, who went on to complete a double century, acknowledges the cheers on reaching the mark on the third day of the Duleep Trophy encounter against South at Faridabad on Thursday.
FARIDABAD, MARCH 14. After being at the receiving end for nearly two and a half days, South Zone finally showed some resistance. Facing an uphill task of avoiding an innings defeat, South started its second innings on a confident note as it scored 126 for one against North at the Nahar Singh Stadium here on Thursday. As North declared its first innings at 558 for nine after gaining a lead of 390 runs, South did well to lose only one wicket in nearly three hours. Opener S. Sriram showed the way with a gritty performance, remaining unbeaten on 64. On a pitch with no terror, South can deny the opposition full points if it shows the same application as it did today. It did not come as a surprise when North, resuming at 387 for three, continued to pile on runs with ease. Yuveraj Singh, who made his way back into the National squad for the last two one-dayers against Zimbabwe, completed his double hundred. The left-hander, who resumed at 163, took 136 minutes today to reach the next milestone. But more than the runs, it was Yuveraj's approach which was praiseworthy. For one, who is still in his formative years, it was a satisfying effort. Yuveraj, who stayed at the wicket for 542 minutes, managed three sixes and 28 boundaries, including four on this day. He reached his 200 with a square drive - a stroke which stood out in his innings. Yuveraj was dismissed for 209. For North, Shafiq Khan (60) and Vijay Dahiya (53 not out) were the other main contributors. Shafiq, who resumed at 27, was aggressive from the beginning. The Haryana batsman, who collected two boundaries off Venkatesh Prasad in the first over of the day, hit two sixes, one each off Sriram and Suresh Kumar. His knock, which included eight boundaries, came to an end when he was trapped leg-before by Venkatesh Prasad. Dahiya was steady throughout. The doughty batsman, comfortable during his two-hour stay, struck a six off Ramesh over long-on apart from five well-timed boundaries. After labouring for more than 11 hours on the field, South openers Sriram and Ramesh (31) managed to deny North an early breakthrough. Ashish Nehra, who was in fine form in the first innings, took time to settle down. But once the left-armer found his rhythm, he managed to deceive Ramesh and got him caught behind. Sriram played the new ball with assurance and showed the will to hang around. With his assured footwork, he disturbed Sanghvi's length. He has hit 11 fours so far. Bharadwaj leaves midway When South Zone's Vijay Bharadwaj, who was selected for the remaining two one-dayers against Zimbabwe, left without the completion of the Duleep Trophy match against North, it spoke of the importance given to the domestic circuit. Though North's Yuveraj, who was also among the three changes made for the last two one-dayers, decided to stay on till Friday, the last day of the match, Bharadwaj took an early flight to Bangalore on Thursday, leaving Faridabad at 3 a.m. The Board Secretary, Mr. Niranjan Shah, categorically said from Mumbai that the players were required to finish the match but Bharadwaj opted to leave. According to the South camp, Bharadwaj was granted permission by the Karnataka State Cricket Association to leave the match midway in order to gather clothing for the international match. The Board was aware of the domestic cricket commitments of the players picked for the one-day internationals at Hyderabad and Guwahati. ``That's why we had made it clear that the players (Yuveraj, Bharadwaj and Murali Kartik) can report at Hyderabad on Friday night,'' said Mr. Shah. The Hyderabad match, a day-night affair, is scheduled for Saturday. Considering the fact that South was struggling to avoid an innings defeat, Bharadwaj's absence, in case of a collapse, may prove to be a big blow. The scores: South - 1st innings: 168. North - 1st innings: Akash Chopra b Suresh 37, Vikram Rathour c Bharadwaj b Sriram 104, Yuveraj Singh c M. S. K. Prasad b Ramesh 209, Mithun Manhas c Sriram b R. V. Ch. Prasad 44, Shafiq Khan lbw b Venkatesh Prasad 60, Sangram Singh c R. V. Ch. Prasad b Badani 12, Vijay Dahiya (not out) 53, Rahul Sanghvi b Venkatesh Prasad 6, Ashish Nehra lbw b Venkatesh Prasad 0, Vineet Sharma b R. V. Ch. Prasad 11; Extras (b-5, lb-4, w-3, nb-10) 22; Total (for nine wkts. decl.) 558. Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-231, 3-341, 4- 431, 5-463, 6-514, 7-533, 8-533, 9-558. South bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 45-13- 107-3; K. S. Shahabuddin 33-5-108-0; R. V. Ch. Prasad 11.5-2-42- 2; Suresh 24-9-89-1; Bharadwaj 11-3-35-0; Sriram 26-3-90-1; Badani 11-0-56-1; Ramesh 3-0-22-1. South - 2nd innings: S. Sriram (batting) 64, Ramesh c Dahiya b Nehra 31, Vinay Kumar (batting) 23; Extras (b-1, lb-3, nb-1) 5, Total (for one wkt.) 126. Fall of wickets: 1-53. North bowling: Vineet Sharma 9-1-23-0; Nehra 15-9-25-1; Sanghvi 12-2-48-0; Vishal Bhatia 3-0-14-0; Manhas 2-0-12-0.
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