Karnataka pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak’s fifer helped South Zone dominate the proceedings on Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy semi-final at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Chasing a 215-run target, South Zone got off to a good start with Mayank Agarwal scoring a few boundaries.
Starting the day at 51/2, North Zone lost their third wicket early. Vidhwath Kaverappa induced an edge off Ankit Kalsi's bat who contributed with a run-a-ball 29. Prabhsimran and Ankit Kumar stabilised the innings. They shared an 85-run partnership for the fourth wicket. The partnership was broken by Vyshak. Prabhsimran scored 53 runs from 93 balls including 11 fours.
Prabhsimran's wicket led to a batting collapse. First, left-arm spinner Sai Kishore got the wicket of Ankit Kumar (26). Then Vyshak got the wickets of Nishant Sindhu, skipper Jayant Yadav and Pulkit Narang. Vyshak completed his fifer with Narang's wicket for a two-ball duck. Harshit Rana once again played a cameo to push North Zone's score. He scored 38 runs from 36 balls including four fours. Sai Kishore got two more wickets as North Zone got all out for 211.
Chasing 215, Sai Sudharsan got off to a cautious start after getting out early in the first innings. Sudharsan scored five runs from 27 deliveries. Agarwal hit three fours in his 12-ball 15 as South Zone had 21/0 on the board. They need 194 more runs to progress to the final.
While North Zone couldn't get a breakthrough on the day, they would feel encouraged by the fact that South, after cruising during better part of the first innings, faltered badly to concede the first innings lead.
A lot will depend on how North skipper Yadav and his off-spin partner Narang fare on the final day and whether they can get some assistance off the surface. However, they may feel the absence of a left-arm spinner among their ranks. South Zone’s left-arm spinner Kishore took three wickets.
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