Visakhapatnam: An unbeaten partnership of 121 runs between Saurabh Tiwary (84*) and Basant Mohanty (51*) for the seventh wicket saved the day East Zone against South Zone on the first day of the four-day Duleep Trophy semifinal match played at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
South Zone were reeling at 66/6 when these two batsmen got together and they did everything to take their team out of an embarrassing situation. The match started with a bit of a delay and Vinay Kumar, captain of South Zone had no hesitation in putting the opposition into bat after winning the toss.
The pitch had a bit of freshness and Vinay Kumar justified his decision by picking the wicket of opener Dheeraj Jadhav in his second over. South bowlers bowled at a brilliant line and length and never allowed the opposition to break-free. Abhimanyu Mithun was rewarded for his steady bowling as he got the wicket of Manish Vardhan in his fourth over.
The pitch was offering some swing and medium pacer Stuart Binny got the maximum out of the wicket picking up Behera and Majumdar in one over. That brought Tiwary on the crease and he looked the best batsmen from East Zone, he left the ball well and punished the lose deliveries.
He lost two partners at the other end but got good support from Mohanty.
Both Tiwary and Mohanty played cautiously and ensured that their team do not suffer any more damage before the end of the day’s play.
Brief Score:
East Zone: 187/6 (Tiwary 84*, Mohanty 51*, Mithun 2-43)
By Indian Sports News Network