West Zone dominate as North resort to below-the-belt tactics

Wicketkeepers, normally, are the ones who do the bulk of sledging.

Wicketkeepers, normally, are the ones who do the bulk of sledging. But Thursday saw an exception, when some North Zone players, during their Duleep Trophy semifinal against West Zone, tried to unnerve Parthiv Patel by breaking the news of the keeper being ignored for the Test series against South Africa.

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One of the leading scorers this domestic season, Parthiv was, in all probability, expecting a recall to the Indian team. But the selectors preferred West Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. The noise the North Zone players made — repeatedly and intentionally — after the team’s announcement did not escape Parthiv’s ears. That, more or less, summarised the third day of the match. Resuming at 36 for three, North folded up for 294 in reply to West’s 769. The hosts were placed at 56 for one when stumps were drawn.

The day was divided into two phases — before and after the Indian team’s announcement. Besides Parthiv, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Nayar were also in contention and that’s why there was a lot of excitement during the first session of play.

Meanwhile, Kohli scored a brisk half-century, dealing mostly in boundaries. But a little more than an hour into the day’s play, he tried to drive left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, but the ball spun from middle and leg to hit the off stump. Kohli was disappointed again when he found out that he too was left out of the Test team.

Vikramjeet Malik, Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia brought in all their experience to stick around for a considerable time but against an improbable first-innings total, there was little they could do. West have a formidable bowling line-up and they made it count even on the lifeless track at the Madhav Rao Scindia ground.

Jadeja, in particular, troubled the batsmen the most. He had Bhatia caught and bowled by bowling a slower one. The Delhi all-rounder closed the face of the bat a little too early and the ball flew back to the bowler off the edge.

Ajinkya Rahane lost his off stump early after West decided not to enforce follow-on. And when Parthiv walked into bat, Kohli and his teammates welcomed him with a mock ovation. The chubby-faced batsman responded with a boundary. It was back to cricket again.