Centuries galore as North Zone pile up runs

North Zone piled up a massive 708/8 declared on the second day of the Duleep Trophy match against South Zone at the IGMC stadium in Vijayawada on Friday. South Zone bowlers had no clue about stopping the North Zone run flow. Dinesh Mongia hit a double century and Virender Shewag blasted a quick-fire hundred to add to South Zone's misery.

Resuming on 336 for three, North kept playing aggressively as Mongia and Shewag sent South Zone on a leather hunt. Their fourth wicket partnership was worth 178 when Shewag was dismissed for 108 by Sridharan Sriram in the 119th over with the total on 507. Shewag's powerful innings contained 18 strokes to the fence and came of a mere 113 balls. Sharandeep Singh joined Mongia in the middle and made 28 before he was dismissed by Laxman. Mongia who enjoyed the run feast went on to complete his double century and was the next batsman to be dismissed for a masterly 201 made off just 266 balls. He was at the crease for a little over six hours and smashed 30 boundaries and a six in his innings. At that stage the North Zone score read 631/6 in the 152nd over.

Harbhajan Singh played a little cameo that earned him a run a ball innings of 41. Singh's explosive knock included four boundaries and a six before he was dismissed by Sunil Joshi, who also accounted for the next wicket to fall, that of SV Ghag for 9. Rahul Sanghvi remained unbeaten on 33 with Surendra Singh on 4 as North Zone declared at the end of the 167th over. The South Zone bowlers had to do a lot of work without much reward. Joshi was the pick of the bowling with figures of 42-3-167-3.

When South Zone batted, Sadagopan Ramesh was caught by wicketkeeper Rathour off the bowling of Ghag for 8 in the fourth over. South Zone sent in Thiru Kumaran as the night-watchman, but more disaster was to follow as Sriram was dismissed caught by Rathour of the bowling of Surendra Singh for 11 to the last ball of the day. South Zone were 41/2 in 11 overs with Kumaran unbeaten on 21 (4 fours) at the close of play.