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North Zone cruised to a convincing win over North East Zone and took a massive 665-run lead in their second innings on Friday, the third day of the Duleep Trophy quarter-finals.
Once a strong foundation was laid, the North’s bowlers made full use of it to restrict Northeast to 58 for 3. Northeast trailing by 607 runs. But before their batsmen came to the party for the second time in the match, North’s bowlers led by Siddharth Kaul bundled out NE for 134 to gift them a 406-run lead.
Despite such a huge first innings lead, North chose not to enforce the follow-on. Perhaps the idea was motivated by a desire to give some hopefuls another chance to impress with the bat.
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However, the plan did not fully fructify. First innings centurions Dhruv Shorey and Nishant Sindhu were dismissed cheaply for 11 and 3 respectively. Jotin Singh bowled a pitched delivery to dismiss Shorey. The ball pitched on middle and leg before going over the top of the off-stump, leaving Shorey stunned and it was the ball of the day for a few miles.
After the dismissal, North’s score was 23 for 2, but Ankit Kalsi and Prabhsimran Singh reduced it by putting on a brilliant 83-run partnership for the third wicket in a little over 15 overs.
Both Prabhsimran and Kalsi brought out their natural flair and batted at a good clip. Just when he looked set to play a big innings, Kalsi was dismissed for 49 and later Prabhasimran was also dismissed for 59.
At 146 for 5, Northeast would have dreamed of getting their opponent’s innings over early, but it didn’t quite end up that way. North skipper Jayant Yadav (55 runs, 78 balls, 8×4) and Ankit Kumar (70, 101 balls, 8×4) further punished their rivals with a 113-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
Jayant, who captained North in place of the injured Mandeep Singh, did no harm to their aspirations as he batted with poise to overcome the first innings failure.
Jayant’s previous appearance for India was in the Mohali Test against Sri Lanka in March 2022. The pair were very comfortable in the middle until Ankit was stumped by Prafullamony off left-arm spinner Kishan Singha.
The dismissal also heralded the North side and they will be keen to take this match to its logical conclusion as soon as possible on Saturday.
