Central Zone clinch runner-up spot

Central Zone trounced South Zone by an innings and 14 runs on the final day of the final round of Duleep Trophy matches at the Bhausaheb Bandodkar Stadium in Goa on Sunday. The win helped Cental Zone clinch the runner-up spot behind North Zone, who were crowned champions with a round to spare after racing away to 23 points. Central finished on 19 to edge West Zone into third place with 17. East Zone's tally of 13 placed them fourth while South Zone's second successive defeat consigned them to bottom of the heap on a measly eight points.

South began the fourth morning at 204/4, needing 205 more to make Central bat again. Lefthanders Sridharan Sriram and Sunil Joshi extended their fifth wicket stand to 54 before the latter was thrown out for 45. The Karnataka allrounder who used the long handle effectively struck four fours and two sixes in a 43 ball knock. Two overs later seamer Jai Prakash Yadav trapped Aashish Kapoor leg before for a fourth ball duck.

Javagal Srinath contributed a brisk 30 to a 45 run seventh wicket stand with Sriram before he handed leg spinner Narendra Hirwani his first wicket of the match. Hemang Badani who had dropped down the order because of a stiff neck strode to the crease at No.9 to join his Tamil Nadu colleague and they took South through to lunch at 297/7 with Sriram undefeated on 131.

Sriram's marathon innings had spanned 7 hours and 51 minutes when medium pacer Devendra Bundela dismissed him a second time in the match, for a disciplined 150 (329 balls, 20 fours). Their stand was worth 57 and Central were frustrated further by a pesky 55 run ninth wicket association between Badani and Venkatesh Prasad. It ended when Badani was caught off Hirwani two runs short of his fifty.

Hirwani, who did not get a bowl in the first innings when South were hustled out for 141, polished off the match with his third wicket, having Prasad stumped. It gave the busy wicketkeeper Rohit Jhalani his eighth dismissal of the match as South were terminated for 395. Hirwani finished with 3/115 and the off spinner Rahul Kanwat earned two scalps but leftarmer Murali Kartik went wicketless in 23 overs to round off a disappointing tourney for him.