South star Abhinav shines bright

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Hyderabad, Jan. 28: Different day, but same result. For the third day in succession, South Zone were a far superior unit as they had Central Zone on the brink of a big defeat in the Duleep Trophy semifinals, being played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Friday.

Chasing a target of 770 for a win, Central Zone ended the penultimate day at 73 for 2.

Earlier in the day, South Zone batters Abhinav Mukund and Amit Verma thrashed Central, amassing a whopping 234 runs for the third wicket in the morning session off 42 overs.

The first landmark of the day was crossed by Abhinav, reaching his second century of the match, a knock that contained 16 fours and a six. His partner, Amit Verma, marched to his second hundred of the season in just 113 deliveries.

Unlike Manish Pandey (who scored 213 in the first innings), who only drove in top gear, Verma and Abhinav seemed to be experienced riders, shifting gears at will, yet taking the game away from Central Zone with each passing minute.

When South Zone lost Abhinav (165) in the first over post-lunch, one expected them to signal an end to their innings as the lead had exceeded the 600-run mark. But South carried on till the post-tea session to shut all doors on their opposition.

Muralidharen Gautam too made hay while the sun shone, scoring a brisk 78 off 79 balls that took the lead past the 700-run mark.

However, it was difficult to understand the motive behind sending Vinay Kumar, Pragyan Ojha and Abhimanyu Mithun to take strike while established batters S. Badrinath and Manish Pandey sat in the cool confines of the pavilion.

Scoreboard
South 1st innings 443
Central 1st innings: 178
South 2nd innings (132/2)
Abhinav Mukund c Devendra Bundela b Umesh Yadav 164, Robin Uthappa c Naman Ojha b Pankaj Singh 59, Dinesh Karthik lbw Devendra Bundela 9, Amit Verma c Mohnish Mishra b Akshay Wakhare 148, Muralidharen Gautam c Vineet Saxena b Umesh Yadav 78, Vinay Kumar c Akshay Wakhare b Hrishikesh Kanitkar 25, Abhimanyu Mithun c Naman Ojha b Akshay Wakhare 0, Pragyan Ojha (not out) 8, Extras: (b-2, lb-4, nb-1, w-6): 13
Total (for 7 wkts in 100.3 overs) 504
FoW: 1-87, 2-131, 3-367, 4-427, 5-487, 6-488, 7-504.
Bowling: R.P. Singh 11-3-36-0, Pankaj Singh 16-2-69-1, Umesh Yadav 11.3-1-67-2, Devendra Bundela 18-0-92-1, Akshay Wakhare 31-3-149-2, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 11-0-62-1, Aakash Chopra 2-0-23-0.
Central Zone 2nd innings
Aakash Chopra c Robin Uthappa b Sreenath Aravind 8, Mohnish Mishra batting 30, Hrishikesh Kanitkar c Amit Verma b Sreenath Aravind 0, Naman Ojha batting 33, Extras: (lb-1, w-1): 2
Total (for 2 wkts in 15 overs): 73
FoW: 1-19, 2-19.
Bowling: Vinay Kumar 5-0-22-0, Abhimanyu Mithun 2-0-7-0, Sreenath Aravind 4-1-15-2, Pragyan Ojha 3-0-24-0, Subramaniam Badrinath 1-0-4-0.

Pic Caption:
South Zone centurions Amit Verma (left) and Abhinav Mukund take a run during their 236-run stand for the third wicket on Friday.