Welcome to Sportstar’s LIVE coverage from Day 4 of the Duleep Trophy 2022-23. This is Santadeep Dey and Abhishek Saini, bringing you all the action as it unfolds at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai and the CAP Ground 2, Puducherry. Our correspondents S. Dipak Ragav and S. Dinakar are reporting from ground zero.
LIVE UPDATES AND COMMENTARY
- Both North Zone and West Zone sides advance to the semifinal round by virtue of having a higher first innings total.
Abishek Porel brings up his fifty and that draws the match between East and North Zone.
Sheth punches the ball through covers and brings up his hundred. Immediately after, the players start shaking hands, bringing the contest to an end.
Mulani falls three short of a 100. He tries to nudge the ball to mid wicket but is slightly early on the shot. The ball takes a leading edge and goes straight to the hands of Bishworjit who just about takes the catch after his follow through..
Shams Mulani and Sheth have been dealing in boundaries. Mulani is just four short of his 100 while Sheth is batting on 78. Both batters have an 80+ strike rate.
The East Zone top order has got off to a shaky start. Riyan Parag showed aggression but lasted just eight balls. Manoj Tiwary and Virat Singh, too, fell cheaply. The deficit is still 92 runs.
West has kept the scoreboard ticking after the Lunch break. They’ve picked up easy singles thanks to the defensive field set by North East. Shams Mulani has completed his fifty as well. The left-hand batter hit six boundaries in process.
Jagjit Singh Sandhu is the last man to be dismissed for North Zone and it is bundled out for 545, a lead of 148 runs. Shahbaz Ahmed is the pick of the bowlers with figures of 19.4-1-86-5.
West Zone - 110/4 in 40.6 overs (S Z Mulani 23* off 47, A Sheth 22* off 31), North Zone - 532/8 in 144.6 overs (Jagjit Singh Sandhu 8* off 8, Nishant Sindhu 22* off 38)
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The floodgates have opened! Anmol Malhotra, Pulkit Narang and Siddarth Kaul are also back in the hut. East Zone is suddenly making its presence felt. Abishek Porel has effected two moire dismissals, taking his total to five in this innings (three caught, two stumpings).
Abishek Porel’s exceptional work behind the sticks hands East Zone two back-to-back wickets. Himanshu Rana’s been stumped for 81, while Mandeep has been caught behind.
Time for the drinks break.
The middle stump has been destroyed. It’s Bishworjit who picks up the wicket. Jani heads back as the umpires call for drinks.
Dropped! Inside edge and bursts through the keeper’s gloves. Tamore has been gifted a lifeline as the ball speeds away to the boundary.
Rahul Tripathi takes the walk; he has nicked one to the ‘keeper. Pacer Dippu Sangma gets his second wicket of the innings.
North Zone’s lead over East crosses fifty. The team total also goes past the 450 mark.
Rex Singh gets the day rolling in Chepauk. West Zone’s Rahul Tripathi on strike, Hardik Tamore at the other end.
WEST ZONE vs NORTHEAST ZONE, DAY 3 REPORT
CHENNAI: Jaydev Unadkat’s (3/35) early triple strike followed by Chintan Gaja’s (4/38) four-wicket haul to clean up the tail, ensured West Zone took a 355-run first innings lead over North East Zone in the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal in Chennai on Saturday.
West Zone skipper Ajinkya Rahane declared overnight with his team sitting pretty at 590/2. For North East, Ankur Malik provided some rearguard action with a quick 81 off just 95 balls to bail out his side from deep trouble before the debutant team was bowled out for 235.
Earlier, under overcast conditions at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Unadkat proved too good for the North East batters as he removed opener Kishan Lyndoh bowled and Mohammed Al Bashid off successive deliveries in the fifth over.
At the other end, medium-pacer Chintan Gaja then had Jonathan Rongsen bowled and when Unadkat had opener Techi Doria caught at slip, North East was struggling at 20 for four.
It was then left to Ashish Thapa (43) and skipper Hokaito Zhimomi (32) to steady things for North East as they added 62 runs for the fifth wicket.
When Malik walked out, his side was struggling at 84 for six but he played without inhibition, taking on the bowlers and added 67 runs for the seventh wicket with Zhimomi.
The all-rounder went after left-arm spinner Shams Mulani hitting him for seven boundaries in his knock. The 19-year-old got down on his knees and targeted the leg-side fence with his sweep shots clearing the in-field with ease. Malik was dropped on 43 by Rahul Tripathi at backward point and the youngster got to his half-century in style with a punch through covers off pacer Gaja.
Despite securing the crucial first-innings lead, West Zone chose not to enforce the follow-on and ended the day at 12 for one in its second innings and led by 367 runs. The last day’s play gives a chance for West Zone’s other batters to have a hit in the middle before the semifinals.
PLAYING XI
West Zone: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Prithvi Shaw, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Het (wk), Hardik Jitendra Tamore, R A Tripathi, S Z Mulani, Chirag Jani, J Unadkat, C T Gaja, A Sheth.
NorthEast Zone: Zhimomi (c), R Jonathan, Ashish Thapa (wk), Bishworjit, Dippu, Doria, Kishan Lyndoh, Al Bashid, Kishan Singha, Ankur, Rex.
- S. DIpak Ragav
Here is W.V. Raman’s latest episode where he talks about India’s domestic cricket season:
NORTH ZONE VS EAST ZONE, DAY 4 REPORT
PUDUCHERRY: The manner he walks to the crease takes guard and settles in his stance…Yash Dhull oozes confidence and belief.
Dhull is technically impressive too with his judgement in the corridor, a still head, body balance in offence and defence and footwork that adjusts to the length.
Dhull’s iridescent 193 (243b, 28x4, 2x6) here at the quaint CAP ground on Saturday was a masterclass from the 19-year-old Delhi youngster.
And North Zone, replying to East’s 397, was 433 for three at close on day three and all but through to the Duleep Trophy semifinals, on a pitch that just refuses to deteriorate.
Himanshu Rana (62 batting, 82b, 8x4) who struck the ball firmly, and skipper Mandeep Singh (34 batting), were together at stumps.
The brilliant Dhull was the cynosure, batting with composure and flair.
The solidity in his methods with a sound defence is unmistakable. Dhull has a forward press as a trigger but doesn’t commit himself.
Those flowing strokes of pacemen and spinners off either foot, the scorching cover-drives, the blazing cuts, the scintillating straight drives, the pulsating pulls and the whiplash flicks were all there.
And he found the gaps with a surgeon’s precision.
Well begun is half done and the opening pair of Dhull and Manan Vohra (44) put on 128 in 29.2 overs.
Vohra, who struck the ball crisply, was stumped off left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem.
There was no let-up for East. Dhull and Dhruv Shorey added 192 for the second wicket. Shorey (81, 163b,9x4) played some handsome shots in front of the wickets.
Dhull, dismissed off a no-ball once, missed out on a double hundred playing on to paceman Manishankar Murasingh. Shorey was cleaned up by seamer Akash Deep.
However, East’s strikes were few and far between. North is in the box seat. Dhull ruled on day three.
PLAYING XI
East Zone: Sudip Kumar Gharami, Riyan Parag, Anustup Majumdar, Virat Singh, Manoj Tiwary (c), Abishek Porel (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, M B Mura Singh, Shahbaz Nadeem, Akash Deep, Ishan Porel.
North Zone: Yash Dhull, Dhruv Shorey, Manan Vohra, Mandeep Singh (c), H J Rana, Anmol Malhotra (wk), Pulkit Narang, Navdeep Saini, Siddharth Kaul, Jagjit Singh Sandhu, Nishant Sindhu.
- S. Dinakar
SQUADS
WHERE TO WATCH DULEEP TROPHY 2022-23 LIVE?
The Duleep Trophy isn’t available for live telecast or live streaming. Only the final will be broadcast by the Star Sports Network.
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