Duleep Trophy: South Zone’s Kaverappa restricts North Zone with five-wicket haul

Wrecker-in-chief: Kaverappa stole the limelight on the opening day with a five-wicket haul.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Pacers ran riot on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal between South Zone and North Zone here on Wednesday.

Helped by overcast skies, fast bowlers accounted for 12 of the 14 wickets that fell. The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch offered some movement and bounce, capitalised by South’s Vidwath Kaverappa (5/28). The Karnataka cricketer took his third First Class five-for, as South bundled North out for 198.

North relished bowling in the final session, cutting through the top-order in quick time. Baltej Singh and Harshit Rana took two wickets each to reduce South to 63 for four.

Kaverappa was brilliant with the new ball, keeping the batters guessing by keeping a tight off-stump line. He landed the out-swingers perfectly, forcing Dhruv Shorey and Ankit Kalsi to fish and edge.

Andhra seamer K.V. Sasikanth failed to maintain a good length, but managed to scalp Prabhsimran Singh (49, 52b, 6×4, 1×4). Prabhsimran scooped a loose drive to cover, where Sai Sudharsan grabbed a sharp catch.

Kaverappa returned to the attack to clean up Jayant Yadav, Pulkit Narang and Baltej Singh. The 24-year-old follows a simple plan to get the results. “On any pitch, if you hit the top of off-stump line, every batsman in the world will find it difficult,” he said.

South’s reply started in disastrous fashion. Sudharsan, the best young talent in the team, checked his shot to offer a catch to Jayant at mid-on. The dependable R. Samarth stuck his bat well away from the body to give Baltej his second wicket.

Skipper Hanuma Vihari dragged a short ball from Harshit Rana onto the stumps. The very next delivery, Ricky Bhui was trapped on the pads by an in-dipper. Mayank Agarwal (37 batting) and Tilak Varma (12 batting) avoided further damage.

The scores: North Zone —1st innings: Dhruv Shorey c Bhui b Kaverappa 11, Prashant Chopra lbw b Kishore 5, Ankit Kalsi c Bhui b Kaverappa 2, Prabhsimran Singh c Sudharsan b Sasikanth 49, Ankit Kumar c Bhui b Sasikanth 33, Nishant Sindhu c (sub) Baby b Vyshak 27, Jayant Yadav c Bhui b Kaverappa 2, Pulkit Narang lbw b Kaverappa 0, Harshit Rana c&b Sundar 31, Vaibhav Arora (not out) 23, Baltej Singh b Kaverappa 2; Extras (b-10, lb-2, w-1): 13; Total (in 58.3 overs): 198.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-14, 3-18, 4-97, 5-108, 6-115, 7-123, 8-144, 9-173.

South Zone bowling: Kaverappa 17.3-8-28-5, Vyshak 10-1-26-1, Kishore 12-3-36-1, Sasikanth 10-0-52-2, Sundar 9-2-44-1.

South Zone —1st innings: Sai Sudharsan c Jayant b Baltej 9, Mayank Agarwal (batting) 37, R. Samarth c Chopra b Baltej 1, Hanuma Vihari b Harshit 0, Ricky Bhui lbw b Harshit 0, Tilak Varma (batting) 12; Extras (b-4): 4; Total (for four wkts, in 17 overs): 63.

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-34, 3-35, 4-35.

North Zone bowling: Baltej 7-0-21-2, Vaibhav 4-0-16-0, Harshit Rana 4-0-19-2, Jayant 2-0-3-0.

Toss: South Zone.