Sri Lanka A gain slender lead

Day 2 South Zone 266 and 24 for 0 trail Sri Lanka A 327 (Chamara Silva 70, Samaraweera 69, Kaushal Silva 55, Reddy 4-57) by 37 runs
Scorecard

Fifties from Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva and Kaushal Silva helped Sri Lanka A to a healthy 61-run lead over South Zone at Kolkata, but that had been reduced to 37 by stumps on day two.

Resuming the day on 36 for one, Sri Lanka A lost Malinda Warnapura to Kaushik Reddy's medium pace in the first over. Jehan Mubarak's dismissal, leg before to Sreesanth for 34, seemed to have tipped the scales South Zone's way but Samaraweera and Chamara fought back with a 101-run partnership. Samaraweera took his time, consuming 159 deliveries for his 69, but Chamara wasn't as resolute, hammering 70 from just 80 balls. Down the order, Kaushal scored 55 to rally with tail. Reddy was the most successful bowler with 4 for 57.

Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa then added 24 to see South Zone to safety by the close of play.

Day 2 East Zone 22 for 2 trail North Zone 504 (Joginder 122, Yashpal Singh 89, Rawat 62) by 482 runs
Scorecard

Joginder Sharma's 122 and solid fifties to Yashpal Singh and Mahesh Rawat propelled North Zone to a mammoth 504 before the opening bowlers nipped out two wickets to leave East Zone with a mountain to climb at Guwahati.

Yashpal (89) and Rawat (62) extended their overnight fifth-wicket stand to 86. If East Zone thought Yashpal's wicket was a breakthrough to cash in on, they were mistaken. Joginder, with 18 fours and three sixes, grabbed the reins and hit his fourth first-class hundred to help North Zone to a formidable total.

It got worse for East Zone. Ashish Nehra and Gagandeep Singh, the left-right medium-fast opening combo, removed the openers cheaply to cap a good day for North Zone.