Duleep Trophy: Baba Aparajith and Abhinav Mukund seal South Zone's final spot

Baba Aparajith is on a roll

Just days after becoming only the fourth player, following the footsteps of Mohammad Azaharuddin, Sanjay Manjrekar and Rakesh Parikh, to score a double century on his Duleep Trophy debut, Tamil Nadu all-rounder Baba Aparajith has followed it up with yet another century in South Zone’s semifinal fixture against Central Zone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

In reply to Central Zone’s first innings score of 209, led by centuries from Abhinav Mukund (111 of 318) and Baba Aparajith (109 off 231), South Zone ended day 3 in a comfortable position on 467/9. Manish Pandey, who himself scored a double century in the last match, helped his team’s cause by scoring 80 runs while Karnataka wicket keeper-batsman Chidhambaram Gautam scored a 100-ball 69. Captain Piyush Chawla picked up four wickets for Central Zone.

With a first innings lead of 258 runs and only one more day remaining in the semi-final match, the South Zone team, led by Mukund, have all but sealed the final spot.

Earlier, the presence of an international class bowler in Pragyan Ojha came as a huge boost for South Zone as the left-arm spinner accounted for three Central Zone wickets. His scalps included Robin Bist and the opposition’s top scorer Piyush Chawla (56).

Abhimanyu Mithun picked up the top three batsmen while Baba Aparajith showed his versatility as a cricketer by picking up two wickets.

In the other semi-final fixture at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi, North Zone (591/8), courtesy of centuries from Unmukt Chand, Ian Dev Singh, Rajat Paliwal and Nitin Saini, sit comfortably ahead of East Zone (32/1) with a mammoth lead of 559 runs at the end of day 3.