West Zone restrict North to modest score
West Zone had the better of the first day's play and restricted North to 254 for 8
Wisden Cricinfo staff
28-Feb-2004
Dinesh Mongia won the toss on the opening day of the crucial Duleep Trophy tie at Dharmasala, but North Zone didn't have much to cheer about thereafter. West Zone had the better of the first day's play, restricting North to 254 for 8.
Munaf Patel nailed Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir early, and reduced North to 21 for 2. Pankaj Dharmani held things together with a dogged 73 and stitched together some useful partnerships with the middle order. Dinesh Mongia (25), Mithun Manhas (21) and Sangram Singh (34) managed to get starts, but none kicked on to a sizeable score.
Dharmani fell for 73, trapped lbw by Sairaj Bahutule, but the tail put up some good resistance with Joginder Sharma (33) and Sarandeep Singh (23) chipping in with valuable contributions. Apart form Munaf, West Zone depended on their spinners to do the damage. Bahutule finished with 2 for 45, while Ramesh Powar was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 56, enhancing his chances of being picked as a replacement for Harbhajan Singh on India's tour to Pakistan.