R Sai Kishore’s 7-wicket haul gives South big lead

SALEM: Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore stole the show with a seven-wicket haul as South Zone seized the all-important lead against North Zone on the third day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal here on Saturday.

Meanwhile in Coimbatore, Prithvi Shaw’s blistering 142 (140 balls, 15 fours, 4 sixes) helped West Zone set Central Zone a mammoth target of 501 in the other semifinal.

Tamil Nadu spinner Sai Kishore, who has been impressive in the white ball formats, came up with a superb showing, snaring seven wickets including that of the talented Yash Dhull (39, 70 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) to help dismiss North Zone for 207 in 67 overs.

Resuming at 24 for no loss, Dhull and Manan Vohra (27) pushed North Zone’s first innings score to 67 before off-spinner K Gowtham (2 for 68) struck the first blow, removing the latter, caught by Rohan Kunnummal.

Dhull, who had slammed a ton in the quarterfinal against East Zone, could not carry on his good form, following Vohra into the pavilion four runs later. He nicked one to keeper Ricky Bhui to give Sai Kishore his first scalp.

North slipped to 116 for 4 as captain Mandeep Singh (14) and Dhruv Shorey (28) were dismissed in quick succession.

Brief scores: South Zone 630/8 declared in 172.overs (Rohan Kunnummal 143, Hanuma Vihari 134, Ricky Bhui 103 not out) and 157/1 in 28 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 77, Mayank Agarwal 53 batting) vs North Zone 207 all out in 67 overs (Nishant Sindhu 40, Yash Dhull 39, Dhruv Shorey 28, R Sai Kishore 7 for 70)

Central 33 for 2 in pursuit

of 501 for win

West Zone reduced Central to 33 for 2 after setting a huge target of 501 to win the other semifinal. Prithvi Shaw, who went after the bowlers on Friday and hit a whirlwind ton, continued to torment the Central bowlers. He moved to 142 from 140 balls (15 fours, 4 sixes) to help extend the lead.

Shaw was dismissed by Karan Sharma with the West score at 200 but that did not end the ordeal of the Central bowling unit. Armaan Jaffer (49) and wicketkeeper-batter Het Patel (67) frustrated the opposition attack and put the match virtually out of Central’s grasp.

When Central began its chase of 501, Chintan Gaja struck an early blow by removing Yash Dubey (14).

Later, spinner Shams Mulani got Himanshu Mantri (18) to leave the team in trouble at 33 for 2 with the last day’s play remaining.

Brief scores: West Zone 259 all out in 85.4 overs (Rahul Tripathi 67, Prithvi Shaw 60, Shams Mulani 41, Kumar Kartikeya Singh 5 for 66) and 371 all out in 104.4 overs (Prithvi Shaw 142, Het Patel 67, Armaan Jaffer 49, Kartikeya Singh 3 for 105) vs Central Zone 128 all out in 40.1 overs (Karan Sharma 34, Tanush Kotian 3 for 17, Jaydev Unadkat 3 for 24) and 33 for 2 in 9.2 overs