Chennai: R. Malolan twirled his offspinners to scalp five wickets as South Zone took the decisive first-innings lead against West Zone on the final day of the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal here on Sunda
Chennai: R. Malolan twirled his offspinners to scalp five wickets as South Zone took the decisive first-innings lead against West Zone on the final day of the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal here on Sunday. In three days’ time, they will take on Central Zone in the semifinal at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. Overnight batsman Ankit Bawne remained unconquered at 115 as West were bowled out for 287 in 133 overs. It took 146 minutes into day four for South to end the seventh-wicket partnership between Bawne and left-handed Rakesh Dhruv (53). The right-left batting combination handled the spinners with a unique method of their own as they put on 93 runs in 244 balls. Whilst Bawne was focused on keeping Malolan away from further success, Dhruv was intent on striking the ball down the ground and one such drive nearly knocked the head of the umpire off leftarm spinner R. Aushik Srinivas. South skipper Vinay Kumar’s patience ran out as he started ringing in quick changes. His desperate attempts to break the partnership were evident from the fact that he used up seven bowlers within the first two hours of play. Bawne reached his first hundred in the Duleep Trophy with a dab to point. His grit raised a glimmer of hope for West. However, a typical tailender's slog from Dhruv off Aushik finally got South the breakthrough. With a semifinal berth already in the bag, South decided to bat out the remaining overs.
