South Zone 182 for 7 (Vihari 63, Tilak 40, Mulani 2-19, Gaja 2-27) vs West Zone
West Zone took the honours on a rain-affected opening day of the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru. After electing to bowl, they had South Zone in trouble at 182 for 7 when bad light ended play after much of the final session was lost to the weather.
Barring Hanuma Vihari, who made 63 off 130, a knock of aggression and defiance in equal measure, none of the other batters looked convincing.
Even though the pitch wasn't a green top, the overcast conditions made sure the ball had ample opportunity to nip around. The Gujarat duo of Chintan Gaja and Arzan Nagwaswalla wheeled away with immaculate discipline to account for the first three wickets.
Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani, the second-highest wicket-taker of the previous Ranji season, then profited from the pacers' discipline as the batters, looking for a slight release in the afternoon session, switched off and paid the price.
Sachin Baby was done in by flight as he chipped a catch to Suryakumar Yadav at short midwicket. Shortly afterwards, with the tea interval looming, Vihari chopped on attempting a cut to an arm-ball that skid back in to crash into the stumps.
Washington Sundar and R Sai Kishore, the Tamil Nadu pair, were at the crease looking to lend respectability to South's score when the players went off because of a drizzle that soon turned into a downpour. And when play resumed, after two rain breaks, Sai Kishore got roughed up by the short ball from Nagaswalla and was out caught in the gully.
Earlier in the morning, if moral victories were worth any points, Nagwaswalla would've gained them all, with an engaging opening spell where he had the prolific pair of Mayank Agarwal and R Samarth in all sorts of trouble against the swinging ball.
Nagwaswalla almost beat Agarwal on the inside edge, had him squaring up to deliveries that held their line and had him driving uppishly too. But to his credit, Agarwal weathered that early burst by making some adjustments, like batting well outside the crease and then taking another step out to negate the late movement.
Samarth was the first to go when he wafted at Gaja outside off to nick one through to Harvik Desai, the wicketkeeper. Agarwal and Tilak Varma were then put through a stern examination against the swinging ball. Watching two stroke-makers rein their natural instincts to occupy the crease made for compelling viewing in the first hour.
After setting shop, Agarwal blew it with a loose drive on 28 against Atit Sheth as Sarfaraz Khan pouched an excellent catch at third slip. Only two balls earlier, Agarwal had crashed a boundary through the covers off a similar delivery, but the one that got him was slightly wider and moving further away from him.
Vihari and Tilak, the Hyderabad boys, then dug in. Tilak was prone to flashes of impatience and nearly lost his wicket when he attempted to loft Dharmendrasinh Jadeja's left-arm spin but was lucky that the mis-hit just eluded mid-on. The lunch break then came to his rescue.
Where Tilak was diffident and fidgety before lunch, he was free-flowing after it. He began with a lovely punch through the covers off Nagwaswalla, but the party didn't last long. Like Samarth, he was out slashing to a fullish delivery as Desai completed a fine catch diving to his left.
The wicketkeeper's best work, though, was reserved for later when he threw himself full-stretch to his left, after taking a couple of steps, to catch Ricky Bhui down the leg side, off Gaja. With his team-mates falling around him, Vihari began opening up and scoring a lot more freely, until a moment's indiscretion before tea had him play on. That would be among the pivotal moments of the day.
