Captain Tilak Varma stood tall with a patient unbeaten 106 while Shreyas Gopal made 87 to give South Zone a vital first-innings lead of 90 runs in their Duleep Trophy semifinal against North Zone in Bengaluru on Monday.
Hitting his first boundary as late as the 154th delivery that he faced, Tilak reached 106 not out off 225 balls with seven fours, as South Zone finished the day's play at 285 for nine.
North Zone were bowled out for 195 on the first day. Resuming at 40 for two, South Zone had a poor start as Gurnoor Brar (4/70) struck thrice in the first session to leave them struggling at 80 for five at one stage.
Deep Dive
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N Jagadeesan (36), resuming on 34, was cleaned up by Brar with one that went away from the batter and claimed his off-stump, while R Smaran's positive start (27 off 35 balls, 4 fours) was also ended by the pacer when he had one straightening up to crash into his wickets. Brar got his third wicket in the form of Kodimela Himateja, having him caught behind on the second ball for a duck.
{{/usCountry}}N Jagadeesan (36), resuming on 34, was cleaned up by Brar with one that went away from the batter and claimed his off-stump, while R Smaran's positive start (27 off 35 balls, 4 fours) was also ended by the pacer when he had one straightening up to crash into his wickets. Brar got his third wicket in the form of Kodimela Himateja, having him caught behind on the second ball for a duck.
{{/usCountry}}This was when Tilak joined forces with Gopal as the two put on 175 runs for the sixth wicket to turn the tables on North Zone. Earlier in the day, a close appeal for leg-before off Anshul Kamboj (2/53) was rejected by the on-field umpire while an outside edge flew past the slips when Tilak was in the 80s.
Gopal took the aggressive route to find boundaries at regular intervals, while Tilak farmed the strike to reach his fifty, and carried on in the similar manner. Their partnership was broken in the final session when Arshdeep Singh (2/59) found an outside edge off Gopal's bat to have him caught by Abdul Samad in the slip cordon, and North did not take long to get the following wickets as well.
Gopal played some confident shots on the off side before edging one behind, scoring 87 from 169 balls with 11 hits to the fence. Kamboj dismissed Tanay Thyagarajan for six while Arshdeep added one more wicket to his tally, getting Vidwath Kaverappa caught by Samad for his third consecutive catch of the day.
To his credit, Tilak remained unfazed by another flurry of wickets as he saw off the remainder of the day in the company of Kavuri Saiteja, with South Zone's first-innings lead reaching 90 runs.
Brief scores: North Zone 195 trail South Zone 285/9 in 94 overs (Tilak Varma 106 not out, Shreyas Gopal 87; Arshdeep Singh 2/59, Anshul Kamboj 2/53, Gurnoor Brar 4/70) by 90 runs.