Chennai: India internationals Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar starred with the ball as East Zone ended Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in ascendancy.
Both Shami and Mukesh took two wickets each as the Tilak Varma-led South were restricted to 242/6 in the first innings and ended the day trailing by 466. Devdutt Padikkal (62) and Tilak Varma (56*) scored half-centuries, but the South Zone batters would regret their dismissals, even though Tilak remains unbeaten and the sole hope for an improbable comeback.
The South batters had poor shot selection, and the East bowlers found some spice with even the older ball, using reverse swing to trouble the South batters, who got starts but not as much as the East batters, especially Ishan Kishan, who scored 270.
Ricky Bhui was the first one to be dismissed when he edged one behind for stand-in wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra to palm it. East Zone vice-captain Vaibhav Sooryavanshi insisted on a review to overturn the umpire’s not-out call for Bhui’s caught-behind appeal, which was later given out on DRS.
Narayan Jagadeesan fell victim to poor shot selection, slicing Shikhar Mohan to point as South went to lunch at 115/2. The East bowlers continued to do a good job in the second session too, and the seamers found reverse swing.
They kept the lid on the batters as Shami dismissed Shaik Rasheed for his first. The Indian veteran pacer bowled short spells and was seen to be troubled by a neck issue soon after lunch.
Padikkal made a strong fifty but holed Mukesh Kumar out to deep square leg. Sooryavanshi took the captain’s armband for a brief period in the later part of the second session as Ishan Kishan was off the field. He brought in Shami for a brief spell, and the pacer got the highest Ranji Trophy scorer from the previous season, Smaran Ravichandran. This time Kushagra insisted for the review to Sooryavanshi after the umpire did not pick the edge.
East wrested further control in the third session too and let South add only 62 in the final session while Md Kounain Quraishi also got Shreyas Gopal caught and bowled. East was the happy camp at the end of the day, and despite Tilak being unbeaten, South have a mountain to climb.
Brief scores: East Zone 708 in 163 overs (Ishan Kishan 270, Kumar Kushagra 101; Tripurana Vijay 4-180, Chama Milind 2-88) lead South Zone 242/6 (Tilak Varma 56*, Devdutt Padikkal 62; Mohammed Shami 2-17, Mukesh Kumar 2-36) by 466 runs.
