Ashok Dinda’s tremendous spell of bowling took East Zone in the finals of the Duleep Trophy, says a report in The Hindustan Times. Dinda turned the game on its head in the session before tea, claiming all seven wickets to have fallen in that period as he took seven wickets for 26 runs.
East Zone will now meet Central Zone who defeated North Zone on the basis of first innings lead. Dinda bowled 11 overs straight in the afternoon session to pick up the wickets.
Brief Scores:
East Zone 267 and 215 (Behera 60, Kumar 3-10)
South Zone 244 and 85-8 (Appanna 24, Dinda 7-26)
Meanwhile, The Hindu reports that Bhuvneshwar Kumar guided his side into the final of the Duleep Trophy with a terrific century against North Zone in the semifinal.
After scoring the century, Bhuvneshwar admitted that it was his best innings so far, “Definitely, this was the best innings of my life, given the context of the game. Well, that was how we approached our task. We just wanted to bat as long as we could. And I must say this would not have been possible but for Ritu Raj’s great effort,” he said.
“It was a flat pitch with nothing for the pacers or the spinners. That itself gave lot of confidence and motivation for me to stay focused. We knew that unless we make mistakes we may not get out. I did not feel any pressure at all for I am used to opening the innings for the Club back home in Kanpur with Praveen Kumar. All that I tried was to stay positive and I am happy with my effort,” he added.
