da dobrowin： Central Zone trounced South Zone by an innings and 14 runs on the final dayof the final round of Duleep Trophy matches at the Bhausaheb BandodkarStadium in Goa on Sunday
Staff Reporter04-Feb-2001Central Zone trounced South Zone by an innings and 14 runs on the final dayof the final round of Duleep Trophy matches at the Bhausaheb BandodkarStadium in Goa on Sunday. The win helped Cental Zone clinch the runner-upspot behind North Zone, who were crowned champions with a round to spareafter racing away to 23 points. Central finished on 19 to edge West Zoneinto third place with 17. East Zone’s tally of 13 placed them fourth whileSouth Zone’s second successive defeat consigned them to bottom of the heapon a measly eight points.South began the fourth morning at 204/4, needing 205 more to make Centralbat again. Lefthanders Sridharan Sriram and Sunil Joshi extended theirfifth wicket stand to 54 before the latter was thrown out for 45. TheKarnataka allrounder who used the long handle effectively struck four foursand two sixes in a 43 ball knock. Two overs later seamer Jai Prakash Yadavtrapped Aashish Kapoor leg before for a fourth ball duck.Javagal Srinath contributed a brisk 30 to a 45 run seventh wicket stand withSriram before he handed leg spinner Narendra Hirwani his first wicket ofthe match. Hemang Badani who had dropped down the order because of a stiffneck strode to the crease at No.9 to join his Tamil Nadu colleague and theytook South through to lunch at 297/7 with Sriram undefeated on 131.Sriram’s marathon innings had spanned 7 hours and 51 minutes when mediumpacer Devendra Bundela dismissed him a second time in the match, for adisciplined 150 (329 balls, 20 fours). Their stand was worth 57 and Centralwere frustrated further by a pesky 55 run ninth wicket association betweenBadani and Venkatesh Prasad. It ended when Badani was caught off Hirwanitwo runs short of his fifty.Hirwani, who did not get a bowl in the first innings when South werehustled out for 141, polished off the match with his third wicket, havingPrasad stumped. It gave the busy wicketkeeper Rohit Jhalani his eighthdismissal of the match as South were terminated for 395. Hirwani finishedwith 3/115 and the off spinner Rahul Kanwat earned two scalps but leftarmerMurali Kartik went wicketless in 23 overs to round off a disappointingtourney for him.