Badrinath and Dravid punish North Zone

South Zone 442 for 6 (Badrinath 200, Dravid 138, Yadav 43*) v North Zone
Scorecard

Runs flowed on the opening day of the semi-final at the Madhavrao Scindia Ground as South Zone, led by centuries by S Badrinath and Rahul Dravid, pounded 442 for 6 against North Zone. Badrinath, the captain, finished on an even 200 while Dravid scored 138, his second successive Duleep Trophy century.

South looked anything but stable when they lost Abhinav Mukund and Robin Uthappa with the score on 13, after winning the toss. North claimed those wickets by the third over but they had to wait more than 57 overs for their next breakthrough, by which time Badrinath and Dravid added an intimidating 312. Dravid struck 15 fours in his 138 off 173 balls before he was bowled by Amit Mishra. Badrinath, too, dealt largely in boundaries and his 200 featured 24 fours and four sixes. His timely knock should now boost his chances of touring New Zealand with the Indian Test squad.

The North bowlers were guilty of indiscipline, conceding 23 no balls and Mishra was particularly sloppy with 15 of those to his name. He picked up another wicket, that of Dinesh Karthik for 4, shortly after getting rid of Dravid. Badrinath added a further 76 with Arjun Yadav before he was dismissed by Manpreet Gony, the Punjab seamer. Vikramjeet Malik accounted for R Ashwin just before stumps while Yadav remained unbeaten with a steady 43.