Hyderabad, Feb. 4: South Zone skipper Dinesh Karthik (150) hit his second century of the match to put his side in firm control of the Duleep Trophy final against West Zone here on Thursday.
South set West Zone a massive 536-run target, declaring their second innings at 386/9 with Karthik and C.M. Gautam (88) adding 247 for the fifth wicket. Wasim Jaffer’s side, in reply, were 50/0 at stumps with openers C.R. Pathak and Harshad Khadiwale unbeaten on 41 and 8, respectively.
Earlier, continuing from their overnight total of 42/0, South Zone found themselves at sea with Dhawal Kulkarni reducing them to 71/4. The Mumbai lad got rid of opener K.B. Pawan (20), Arun Karthik (1), Srikkanth Anirudha (37) and G. Satish (6) to leave South reeling.
Fortune favoured Karthik as the right-hander would have walked back to the hut without scoring had Ravindra Jadeja not dropped a sitter at second slip off Kulkarni, a miss that was to prove costly. Barring that one blemish at the start, Karthik’s 206-minute stay at the wicket was flawless. There were shots all round the wicket and in the company of Gautam, the South total soared to 210/4 at lunch. Karthik used his experience to accrue runs at ease, raising his hundred to join the ranks of Lalchand Rajput and Yuvraj Singh to score centuries in each innings of a Duleep Trophy final.
The Karthik-Gautam stand yielded 247 runs at 5.35 runs an over for the fifth wicket, literally closing the doors on West Zone.
When Karthik departed, caught by substitute fielder Makvana off Irfan Pathan, his team had reached 318/5.
Gautam departed in the very next over, 12 short of a well-deserved ton. "It was terrific to bat with Karthik. He showed tremendous determination to score his second century of the match," Gautam said at the end of the day’s play.
On missing out on a century, Gautam said, "It is disappointing. But, it was important to have stayed at the crease and help the team reach a position of strength," he added.
Hyderabad’s Alfred Absolem (27 not out) struck some lusty blows towards the end as South declared their innings just short of 400, giving just more than two days for their bowlers to bowl out their opposition.
Meanwhile, the third day’s play witnessed crowds being allowed for the first time in the match. Turning up in good numbers at the Eastern Stand of the stadium, they cheered and applauded.
The Hyderabad Cricket Association had not allowed the spectators to watch the final on the first two days as civil work was being carried out inside the stadium.
Scores: South Zone 400 & 386/9 decl. (Karthik 150, Gautam 88; Kulkarni 5/58) vs West Zone 251 & 50/0 (Pathak batting 41)
Prasad Ramasubramanian