Chopra Hits Unbeaten 132 as North Pile Up Runs

Nikhil Chopra slammed an unbeaten 132 at No 8 as North Zone piled up a massive total of 543 on the second day of their five day Duleep Trophy semifinal against holders Central Zone at Guwahati on Friday. At stumps Central were 24 for one in reply.

Central must have nurtured hopes of restricting the North total to reasonable limits when the obdurate Rajiv Nayyar fell in the fourth over of the morning. He was bowled by Gandhe without adding to his overnight score of 13 and this made North Zone 305 for six which was a bit of setback after they had been 260 for two.

Chopra entered at this stage and at once set about reviving North's hopes of a big total. First with Dinesh Mongia (22) he added 51 runs for the seventh wicket in 15.2 overs. Navdeep Singh (11) did not last long and at his fall North Zone were 372 for eight.

Shakti Singh, no mean batsman, came in at No 10 signifying North's batting depth. He and Chopra settled down comfortably and then got entrenched in a ninth wicket partnership which ultimately realized 145 runs from 43.3 overs in a trifle over three hours. Chopra got his hundred and shortly afterwards Shakti Singh reached his half century. Finally at 517, Shakti was out for 50 for which he faced 117 balls, with four hits to the ropes and one over it.

Last man R Singh held on for 20 minutes over a single while Chopra went for the bowling in a tenth wicket partnership that added 26 runs from 4.2 overs. At the end of the innings, Chopra had batted almost five hours, faced 227 balls and hit 12 fours and five sixes. AW Zaidi and Hirwani took three wickets each, while Bangar and Gandhe captured two each.

North Zone completed a profitable day by taking a quick wicket, R Singh bowling Bangar with the first delivery of the innings when Central batted. Jyoti Yadav (8) and Abbas Ali (15) were batting at close of play.