Duleep Trophy 2014: Naman Ojha smashes 217 against North Zone; Stuart Binny dismantles East Zone with 7 wickets
Wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha continued his recent rich vein of form by scoring 217 for Central Zone on day 2 of the Duleep Trophy semi-final against North Zone at Mohali, Chandigarh. With Ojha’s knock of 217 coming on the back of first-class scores of 219*, 101* and 110 on India’s A tour of Australia, he is sure to be in contention for the second wicket-keeper slot for India’s upcoming Test tour of Australia.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Central Zone posted a colossal 1st innings score of 538 on the board, with Jalaj Saxena’s 110 and Ashok Menaria’s 62 providing able back-up to Ojha’s efforts. In reply, North Zone lost the wicket of opener Jiwanjot Singh for just 2. That brought Virender Sehwag to the crease, and he looked in ominous touch as he smashed 32 off just 22 deliveries with 6 boundaries before being unfortunately bowled by Pankaj Singh.
Gautam Gambhir, however, has looked solid during his stay at the crease, making 68* off 108 deliveries, and has formed a 70-run unbeaten partnership with Yuvraj Singh, who is on 25*. With North Zone, at 130/2, still 408 runs behind Central Zone’s total, it will be imperative for Gambhir and Yuvraj, the two experienced batsmen, to dig in and rack up big hundreds on day 3 of the semi-final encounter.
In the other semi-final between South Zone and East Zone at Lahli, Rohtak, meanwhile, the team from the South is in pole position going into day 3.
South Zone, who were sent in to bat by East Zone skipper Manoj Tiwary, posted 264, courtesy of a brilliant innings of 120 by Robin Uthappa. In reply, East Zone were bundled out for 284, and had no answers to Stuart Binny, in particular, as he finished up with figures of 13-5-24-4.
With a lead of 180 after the 1st innings, South Zone enforced the follow on despite senior bowler Vinay Kumar succumbing to a hamstring injury. Binny didn’t let Vinay’s injury hamper their prospects as he dismissed Govinda Podder, Sudip Chatterjee and Rana Dutta for scores of 4, 5 and 0, respectively, leaving East Zone at 30/4 at the end of day 2 and on the verge of a heavy defeat.
Update: East Zone were all out for 62 today, as South Zone won by an innings and 118 runs to cement a place in the final.
Brief Scores
Central Zone v North Zone
End of day 2
Central Zone 1st innings: 538 all out (Naman Ojha 217, Rishi Dhawan 3/123)
North Zone 1st innings: 130/2 (Gautam Gambhir 68*, Pankaj Singh 1/25)
South Zone v East Zone
Day 3
South Zone 1st innings: 264 all out (Robin Uthappa 120, Laxmi Shukla 4/40)
East Zone1st innings: 84 all out (Saurabh Tiwary 17, Stuart Binny 4/24)
East Zone 2nd innings (following on): 62 all out (Laxmi Shukla 18, HS Sharath 4/27, Stuart Binny 3/23)