Harsh Dubey and Upendra Yadav carved fifties of different hues to hand Central Zone the vital first innings lead against West Zone, placing their side on the doorstep of the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru on Saturday.
In the other semifinal, Jammu and Kashmir’s Shubham Khajuria struck a fighting, unbeaten century to rescue North Zone, but South Zone remained favourites to progress to the title clash. In reply to South Zone’s imposing first-innings total of 536, North Zone ended day three of the semifinal at 278/5, still trailing by 258 runs.
At stumps on Day 3 of the semifinal, Central were 556 for eight, leading by 118 runs. Saransh Jain (37) and Yash Thakur (4) were at the crease for them after Deepak Chahar (33) was dismissed in the penultimate over of the day.
Yadav (87, 181 balls) and Dubey (75, 93 balls) were involved in a 134-run alliance for the sixth wicket that took the match away from West Zone.
Dubey’s stock as a spin bowling-allrounder is on the rise, and when was part of the India A squad that toured England ahead of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, he had the chance to learn from the veteran Ravindra Jadeja.
“I was talking to Ravindra Jadeja ji. I was asking him, what was your mindset? How do you prepare for matches etc,” Dubey told PTI. “I mean, how do you continuously put batters under pressure… I mean, these are all questions that I used to ask him and which I can learn from him. So that’s all we talked about.” Dubey has also been included in the India A squad for the two four-matches against the visiting Australia A later this month, building on his recent good domestic form.
During his knock, Dubey started off with a flurry of boundaries, five of them in his first 25 runs before settling into a more relaxed pace. He got to fifty in 62 balls. The partnership also helped Central inch past West’s first innings total of 438, when Dubey clattered pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla for a boundary. It was a crucial partnership from the Central Zone perspective as they suffered a rather alarming slide in the first session of the day.
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Starting from the overnight score of 229 for two, Central skipper Rajat Patidar (77) and Shubham Sharma (96) looked solid as their alliance soon swelled to 127. But aggression eventually undid Patidar as he missed a sweep against Jadeja to get clean-bowled and his dismissal helped West grab two more quick wickets to come back into the match.
Yash Rathod (2) had to walk back after Ruturaj Gaikwad snaffled a sensational catch at slip off Jadeja and Shubham got run out while trying to squeeze in a tight single.
He was just four short of a richly deserved hundred, but could not beat Tanush Kotian’s throw from mid-on.
It would have been vastly disappointing for the 31-year-old to get ousted in that manner after toiling for 241 balls.
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Suddenly, the Central found themselves at 322 for five from the cosier 287 for two and they were a worried lot until Dubey and Yadav lent direction to their innings.
Despite losing three wickets in the space of 35 runs, Central managed to score 129 runs in the first session in 36 overs to close the gap with West.
They went to lunch at 358 for five and needed 81 runs to overhaul West’s total which they duly did in the second session without losing a wicket.
Chahar, who was pinged on his hand by Nagwaswalla, and Jain further extended West’s agony in the final session with a quick stand for the eighth wicket as Central pulled away decisively.
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South stay in control
The task of avoiding a first-innings deficit now rests heavily on Khajuria, who carried his bat for 128 not out from 245 balls (20×4, 1×6).
North’s innings began poorly with captain Ankit Kumar trapped leg-before by Gurjapneet Singh in the sixth over, and promising Yash Dhull (14) also fell cheaply, leaving the side wobbling at 38/2 in the first half an hour’s play.
Ayush Badoni (40) offered some resistance, putting on 63 with Khajuria, but was dismissed by MD Nidheesh as North were reduced to 101/3.
Khajuria then found solid support in Haryana’s spin bowling all-rounder Nishant Sindhu (82), and together they stitched the day’s most important partnership of 171 runs for the fourth wicket.
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The pair dominated the second session, denying South a breakthrough as Khajuria raised his half-century off 107 balls and Sindhu played fluently at the other end.
Rain briefly interrupted play with Khajuria on 97 and Sindhu on 71 but on resumption, the Jammu & Kashmir opener reached his eighth first-class hundred off 204 balls.
Sindhu, who had earlier taken five wickets with his left-arm spin in South’s innings, was eventually dismissed for 82 (148 balls) as Gurjapneet claimed his third wicket.
South struck again late in the day, running out wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan for a duck.
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But Khajuria remained firm, closing the day unbeaten, giving North Zone a slender hope, though the deficit of 258 runs looms large heading into the final day.
Brief Scores: South Zone 1st Innings: 536. North Zone 1st Innings: 278/5 in 79 overs (Shubham Khajuria 128 batting, Nishant Sindhu 82, Ayush Badoni 40; Gurjapneet Singh 3/67, MD Nidheesh 1/58). West Zone 438 trail Central Zone 556/8 (Shubham Sharma 96, Upendra Yadav 87, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4/101) by 118 runs
(With PTI inputs)
