Sharath ton sees South salvage draw

A century from S Sharath, and fifties from S Sriram, D Vinay Kumar, H Badani helped South salvage a draw in their four-day Duleep Trophy encounter against North at the Nahar Singh Stadium, Faridababad. North, however, claimed five points for securing the first innings lead. South, for their part, had to be satisfied with just three.

South, who began the day on 126 for one, progressed to 154 before losing Sriram for a well-made 77. The Tamil Nadu opener was stumped after he came down the track to left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi.

Vinay Kumar next found an able ally in India discard Hemang Badani. The duo put on 104 for the third wicket before Badani was dismissed for 59. The fall of Vinay Kumar soon after set the alarm bells ringing for South. A rejuvenated North side, sniffing a win, closed in for the kill.

But S Sharath after surviving a torrid spell from Ashish Nehra early in his innings in the company of MSK Prasad proceeded to thwart North. The duo had put on 95 for the fifth wicket by the time Prasad fell for a gritty 20. Sharath in the company of RV Ch Prasad, then, went on to raise a well-deserved hundred, reaching 102 before Nehra finally claimed him. South were already in safe waters by then. Prasad and Shahabuddin, then, played out the remaining overs.

For North, Ashish Nehra claimed three for 92, to be the most successful bowler yet again.