Andre Siddarth impressed with an unbeaten half-century. © Sportzpics Ankit Sharma missed out on a well-deserved hundred by a solitary run but he spearheaded an improved batting effort from South Zone in their second innings, ensuring that the Duleep Trophy final will go into the fifth day, and that Central Zone will have to bat again. Ankit (99) shared a 192-run stand with C Andre Siddarth for the seventh wicket after South Zone were staring at an innings defeat, eventually finishing the day with a lead of 64, although they were bowled out for 426 in the process. Kumar Kartikeya (4-110) and Saransh Jain (3-130) were the chief wicket-takers again. South Zone started the day at 129/2, still 233 runs in arrears, and the overnight pair of Ravichandran Smaran and Ricky Bhui extended their partnership to 85. But Bhui fell five short of a fifty, edging a delivery pitched wide outside off from Deepak Chahar. Smaran then brought up his half-century while skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen got off to a steady start and also got a reprieve when he was put down by his counterpart Rajat Patidar. But he couldn’t capitalise as he pulled a Kumar Kartikeya delivery to mid-on. Smaran was put down by the ‘keeper a short while later, but he also didn’t make it count, falling to Kartikeya, who had also accounted for Salman Nizar. At Lunch, South Zone were struggling at 249/6. Ankit and Siddarth, however, ensured that the second session belonged to South Zone. They built a strong partnership and ensured that the post-lunch period was a wicketless one for Central Zone. The second new-ball did little to trouble the pair as they raised a century partnership, with Ankit going past 50. At Tea, South Zone had moved to 335/6, reducing the deficit to 27. There was still some turn on offer but the seventh wicket pair negotiated the spinners well, batting positively as they helped South Zone make good progress. They struck regular boundaries, with one four for Siddarth off Saransh helping the 19-year old bring up an impressive fifty. A boundary for Ankit off Shubham Sharma levelled the scores and the bowler also went for three fours in another over. A flurry of boundaries took Ankit into the 90s but Central Zone managed to apply some pressure, minimising the fours. Ankit tried to reach the three-figure mark by depositing a Kartikeya delivery over mid wicket but instead, he ended up mistiming it to hand Patidar a catch. Gurjanpreet Singh fell to Saransh soon after while MD Nidheesh was run out, leaving South Zone at 420/9. They could add only 6 more runs after that as V Koushik was stumped off Saransh, leaving Central Zone with only 65 to win on the final day. Brief scores: South Zone 149 & 426 (Ankit Sharma 99, Andre Siddarth C 84*, Smaran Ravichandran 67; Kumar Kartikeya 4-110, Saransh Jain 3-130) lead Central Zone 511 by 64 runs.
