Shukla slammed a fine 84

Dharamshala: East Zone reduced South Zone to 93 for three after posting a reasonable 388 in their first innings, after Day 2 of their four-day Duleep Trophy match on Sunday.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla was the main contributor for East Zone, who were 229 for four at stumps on Day 1. The Bengal allrounder slammed 84 and came up with a brilliant piece of fielding to run out South’s Sridharan Sriram.

Shib Shankar Paul accounted for Sadagopan Ramesh, while Debashish Mohanty dismissed Rowland Barrington.

Y. Venugopalarao on ten and M.S.K. Prasad on two were at the crease at close. East coach Karsan Ghavri warned that his team still had a long way to go.

East lost overnight batsman Shiv Sundar Das early, the Orissa opener adding just 13 more to his Day 1 tally of 107 not out. Rajeev Kumar of Bihar, the other not out batsman, didn’t last long either.

Shukla, the highest scorer for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy this season, then took charge and added precious runs in the company of Utpal Chatterjee (25) and Mohanty (26). The tail frustrated South as the last three wickets fetched 105 runs.

Seamer N.P. Singh took four for 66 while left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi claimed three for 112. R. Ramkumar finished with two for 78.

South made a bad start when Barrington fell with the total reading 52 and Sriram was run out four runs later. The crucial blow, however, came towards the end when Ramesh fell after scoring a stroke-filled 57.

Central pile up 532/7

In Gurgaon, Central Zone frustrated the West Zone attack to reach a mammoth 532 for seven at stumps on Day 2. Skipper Gagan Khoda fell for 156, but Devendra Bundela (72), J.P. Yadav (80) and Vineet saxena (69 n.o.) added valuable runs to take their team to a formidable total.

BRIEF SCORES

Central Zone 532/7 (Gagan Khoda 156, R. Prakash 73, Devendra Bundela 72, J.P. Yadav 80, Vineet Saxena 69 n.o., Sairaj Bahutule 3/111) vs West Zone.