North Zone ruthlessly drove North East Zone into the ground on the penultimate day of their Duleep Trophy quarterfinal at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.
North came out firing in the morning session to dismiss North East for 134. Despite sitting on a mammoth 406-run innings lead, North decided not to enforce the follow-on. With a spot in the semifinal guaranteed, it had no intention of forcing an early outright win.
It was the perfect platform for the batters to pile on the runs and reach personal milestones, against a demoralised North East unit.
Ankit Kumar (70), Prabhsimran Singh (59), Jayant Yadav (55 n.o.) and Ankit Kalsi (49) made merry in the afternoon session, swelling North’s already sizeable advantage. Ankit had the chance a score a century, but once he was dismissed one over after tea, the declaration came.
This left North East with an unattainable target of 666. Skipper Jayant, out for a duck in the first essay, stated that it was important for him to get among the runs.
“At the start of the season, it is important to get some time at the crease. Our next match (semifinals) will be against South Zone, so it great to score a fifty here,” Jayant said.
Moment of celebration
There was a moment of celebration for North East when seamer Jotin Pheiroijam delivered a peach to dismiss first-innings centurion Dhruv Shorey. The 17-year-old Pheiroijam landed one on middle and leg, and got the ball to move sharply to take out off stump.
The drained North East top-order melted in the second innings. Opener Joseph Lalthankhuma (7) guided a short ball from Baltej to point, and his partner Kishan Lyndoh (14) flashed hard at a harmless loosener from Harshit Rana to the wicketkeeper.
Just before close of play, slip fielder Prashant Chopra caught Langlonyamba Meitan napping, throwing down the stumps when the batter wandered out of the crease.
The one-sided affair is heading for a quick finish on Saturday.
The scores:
North Zone — 1st innings: 540 for eight decl.
North East Zone — 1st innings: Kishan Lyndoh b Kaul 5, Joseph Lalthankhuma c Prabhsimran b Baltej 4, Nilesh Lamichaney b Kaul 44, R. Jonathan lbw b Harshit 15, Langlonyamba Meitan run out 2, Palzor Tamang lbw b Jayant 8, P. Prafullomani c Shorey b Narang 19, Jotin Pheiroijam lbw b Kaul 0, Imliwati Lemtur (not out) 11, Kishan Singha b Narang 7, Dippu Sangma b Narang 4; Extras (lb-6, nb-9): 15; Total (in 39.2 overs): 134.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-10, 3-57, 4-69, 5-82, 6-89, 7-90, 8-111, 9-126, 10-134.
North bowling: Baltej 8-1-32-1, Kaul 8-3-16-3, Harshit Rana 6-1-22-1, Jayant 11-0-31-1, Narang 6.2-0-27-3.
North — 2nd innings: Dhruv Shorey b Pheiroijam 11, Prashant Chopra c Jonathan b Pheiroijam 8, Ankit Kalsi lbw b Singha 49, Prabhsimran Singh b Imliwati 59, Ankit Kumar st Prafullomani b Singha 70, Nishant Sindhu c (sub) Akash b Imliwati 3, Jayant Yadav (not out) 55; Extras (b-2, lb-1, w-1): 4; Total (for six wkts. decl. in 55.1 overs): 259.
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-23, 3-106, 4-140, 5-146, 6-259.
North East bowling: Palzor 4-1-15-0, Pheiroijam 8-1-44-2, Dippu 3-0-27-0, Kishan Singha 14.1-4-46-2, Imliwati 16-0-61-2, Jonathan 7-0-37-0, Langlonyamba 3-0-26-0.
North East — 2nd innings: Kishan Lyndoh c Prabhsimran b Harshit 14, Joseph Lalthankhuma c Sindhu b Baltej 7, Langlonyamba Meitan run out 13, Palzor Tamang (batting) 13, Nilesh Lamichaney (batting) 5; Extras (b-2, lb-4): 6; Total (for three wkts. in 18 overs): 58.
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-23, 3-44.
North bowling: Baltej 4-1-11-1, Harshit 5-1-19-1, Narang 5-1-4-0, Jayant 4-1-18-0.
