Duleep Trophy: Ricky Bhui slams ton as South Zone take control

Ricky Bhui made an unbeaten 103 while Baba Aparajith hit a half-century as South Zone posted a massive first innings total of 630 for eight before declaring

Salem: Ricky Bhui made an unbeaten 103 while Baba Aparajith hit a half-century as South Zone posted a massive first innings total of 630 for eight before declaring on the second day of their Duleep Trophy semifinal against North Zone here on Friday.

In reply, North reached 24 for no loss at stumps with the talented Yash Dhull on 8 (18 balls, 1 four) and Manan Vohra batting on 11 (12 balls, 1 fours), still 606 runs adrift of South’s huge first innings score. In Coimbatore, diminutive opener Prithvi Shaw was in roaring form, hammering an unbeaten 96-ball 104 (11 fours, 3 sixes) as West Zone ended at 130 for three in the second innings to extend their lead against Central Zone to 259 runs.

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Resuming at overnight 324 for two, the South batters continued to pile on the runs. Captain Hanuma Vihari, who was batting on 107 overnight, extended his partnership with Indrajith (65, 104 balls, 4 fours) to 105 runs before being trapped LBW by left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar (3 for 184). Indrajith and Manish Pandey (35) added 57 runs for the fourth wicket before the former became Dagar’s second scalp.

Pandey fell to Dagar at 440 but North’s ordeal was not over as Bhui went on the attack, and with support from K Gowtham (48, 72 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) and T Ravi Teja (42, 66 balls, 4 fours, 1 six), swelled the South Zone total. From 440 for five, Bhui and the others added 190 runs before skipper Vihari declared the innings.

Brief scores: South Zone 630/8 dcl in 172.overs (Rohan Kunnumal 143, Hanuma Vihari 134, Ricky Bhui 103 no, B Indrajith 65; Mayank Dagar 3/184) vs North Zone 24/0 in 5 overs.
West Zone 259 in 85.4 overs & 430/3 in 29 overs (Prithvi Shaw 104 batting) vs Central Zone 128 in 40.1 overs (Tanush Kotian 3/17, Jaydev Unadkat 3/24).