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Hyderabad: Yuvraj Singh completed a well-deserved double century to put North Zone in a comfortable position at stumps on the second day of their Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone here on Monday.
Undefeated on 133 overnight, Yuvraj scored a magnificent 208 off only 243 balls with the help of 33 boundaries and three huge sixes as North managed a commendable total of 451 in 119.2 overs.
Central then managed only 146 for five in 58 overs when stumps were drawn.
Yuvraj batted brilliantly, showing the right composure and attitude as he added 75 more runs to his total. He added 13 more fours and hit a huge six off Murali Kartik.
However, the lower middle-order of the North Zone couldn’t provide him the support. Yuvraj was finally removed by Kartik, who caught the batsman off his own bowling.
The Central openers Tanmay Srivastava and Vineet Saxena sedately added 64 runs in 30-odd overs but their defensive approach only increased the pressure on the team.
While Srivastava was run-out after making 23 off 89 balls, Saxena’s painstaking innings of 33 made off 115 balls ended when Amit Mishra got him caught by Yuvraj. However it was Delhi speedster Parvinder Awana who did the crucial job of removing the in-form Rajasthan duo of Ashok Menaria and Robin Bist.
Brief scores: North Zone 451 in 119.2 overs (Yuvraj Singh 208, Shikhar Dhawan 121, Murali Kartik 4/120, Praveen Kumar 4/92). Central Zone 146/5 (Vineet Saxena 33, Parvinder Awana 2/29).
(PTI)
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