Sanat Sangwan Leads North Zone's Fightback But South Favourites To Reach Duleep Trophy Final
His exclusion from the Duleep Trophy quarter-final created a flutter but North Zone's stodgy left-handed opener Sanat Sangwan put the controversies to rest with a gutsy 76 even though South Zone looked poised to win the Duleep Trophy semi-final
His exclusion from the Duleep Trophy quarter-final created a flutter but North Zone's stodgy left-handed opener Sanat Sangwan put the controversies to rest with a gutsy 76 even though South Zone looked poised to win the Duleep Trophy semi-final by the end of third day's play here Tuesday. On the third morning, skipper Tilak Varma (116 not out) added 10 more runs to his overnight score and added a precious 42 runs for the final wicket with Kavuri Saiteja (12) to reach a decent first innings score of 312 and a handy lead of 117 runs.
In reply, North Zone finished the day at 256 for 7, largely due to Sangwan's 148-ball effort that had eight boundaries and a 104-run second wicket stand with Delhi teammate Ayush Doseja, who helped himself to his second half-century in the tournament.
The lead, however, is of only 139 runs as of now and to make a match of it, North will need to set a target of at least 200 runs and then expect to take 10 South Zone wickets in roughly two sessions.
For South, all they need is a draw to make it to the summit against East Zone in Chennai starting the end of this week.
North Zone could have scored a few more runs but there was a batting collapse as they slumped from a comfortable 175 for 2 to 209 for 7 in less than 10 overs. They lost five wickets for the addition of 34 runs in that period.
It was left to the Haryana duo of Nishant Sindhu (20 batting) and Anshul Kamboj (29 batting) to add 47 runs for the unbroken eighth wicket stand to take the lead closer to 150.
Medium pacers Saiteja, MD Nidheesh and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal took two wickets apiece.
The day, however, belonged to Sangwan, who was ignored by North Zone coaches Ajay Sharma and Sarandeep Singh, who decided to play Yash Dhull in an unfamiliar opening position based on his T20 form in the Delhi Premier League.
After that, both Ajay and Sarandeep came in the radar of powerful DDCA officials and were categorically admonished for what many alleged was a deliberate oversight.
On the day, Sangwan, who has an impeccable defence, looked solid from the start and was cautious against the new ball before playing his shots.
He got a solid partner in Doseja and just like last season's Ranji Trophy for Delhi, the duo again emerged as two players equipped with better temperament to play red ball cricket.
Brief Scores: North Zone: 195 and 256/7 (Sanat Sangwan 76, Ayush Doseja 52, Kavuri Saiteja 2/34).
South Zone: 312 (Tilak Varma 116 not out, Gurnoor Brar 4/88).