Central in with a chance in Duleep final

NEW DELHI: Going into the third morning of the Duleep Trophy final, it was for South Zone to hold the initiative but they let Central Zone back into the game. As it stands at the end of Friday's play, Central are in with a shout for the first time in the match. They are leading by 111 runs and have six wickets up their sleeves with Robin Bist looking well set with Mahesh Rawat giving him company.

Central got a foothold in the game early in the morning with Piyush Chawla's customary googly finding its way through KL Rahul's (184) defence. However, the tale of the match remained one of missed opportunities.

The lack of maturity was summed up best by South Zone coach Hemang Badani. "Two dismissals — Rahul by Chawla and Arindam Ghosh by Vinay Kumar in the first innings — can be asserted as bowlers' wickets. Most of the other wickets were gifted away by the batsmen from both teams. Maybe one or two of Pankaj Singh's wickets can also be credited to the bowler," Badani said.

The culprit this time were Central openers Faiz Fazal (72) and Jalaj Saxena (71) followed by Naman Ojha, the man in form. After the spinners Ali Murtuza (459) and Chawla (295) wrapped up the South innings (379 all out), claiming six and giving away just 20 runs, Central would have fancied their chances of gaining the upper hand as Fazal and Saxena hit 12 boundaries going into lunch.

Things looked good for Central as the openers seemed to be in a hurry to wipe out the 103run deficit till Jalaj missed a straighter one from Pragyan Ojha to be caught in front of the wicket. The partnership was broken at 128.

Fazal's hook down to the throat of the long-leg fielder off a Vinay Kumar bouncer showed why Rahul's innings was special and a measured one. And when Naman, batting with authority on 27, guided Shreyas Gopal's leg-spinning short ball into the hands of Robin Uthappa at first slip, South had found enough encouragement to tighten the screws.

At stumps, Central were 2144 after losing Ashok Menaria for a duck.

If Badani staked claim that South have a fair chance on a pitch which has started to play low by the day-end, that is probably more because Central have failed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck when it mattered most. "Chasing 220 would be par for the course. The ball has started to keep low and that has got the spinners into the game. We would do well to restrict them to that score," Badani reckoned.

Central skipper Chawla would be hoping for Bist (batting on 26) to improve upon his first innings score of 79.

Brief scores: Central Zone 276 and 214 for 4 (Fazal 72, Saxena 71) lead South Zone 379 (Rahul 185, Uthappa 80, Vihari 75, Murtaza 4-59) by 111 runs

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