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Live Cricket Score Duleep Trophy Central Zone vs South Zone, final at Delhi Day 4: KL Rahul brings up sixth FC century with six; South Zone 148/1

Catch the live updates of Day Four of the Duleep Trophy 2014-15 final between Central and South.

Piyush Chawla will be hoping to bowl out South Zone and help Central defend their eventual score © IANS
Piyush Chawla will be hoping to bowl out South Zone and help Central defend their eventual score © IANS

Nov 1, 2014

(Follow live cricket score and live updates of the Duleep Trophy 2014-15 final between Central Zone and South Zone)

So South Zone are almost there. 117 runs to win. Baba Aparjith and KL Rahul will look to finish it early tomorrow.

KL Rahul brings up his sixth FC ton in style with a six over mid-wicket as South Zone are cruising at the moment.
Aparajith smashes a six off the fourth ball of the 31st over bowled by Chawla. Sends the ball flying high over mid-off, as he starts to open up to the attack, after taking 12 balls to open his account. He smashes a four at the end of the 32nd over to move into the double-digit figures. South Zone need another 162 runs with nine wickets in hand, as the umpires call for the drinks on the field.
Rahul brings up the 100-run mark with a huge six over mid-wicket, which is particularly a favourite of his. This is followed by a boundary at the third-man region, followed by yet another four off a reverse sweep to send the ball in the same region, collecting 15 runs off the 28th over bowled by Jalal Saxena. The 22 year-old batsman from Bangalore cuts the second ball of the next over bowled by Piyush Chawla for a four through point. Aparajith, in the meantime, takes 12 balls to get off the mark.
Central skipper Piyush Chawla manages to get the breakthrough in the opening partnership, denying the Uthappa-Rahul pair a century opening stand. Chawla pitches the delivery outside off, to which Uthappa goes for the drive. It however, turns out to be a googly, and Uthappa ends up sending it to the left of the bowler, which Chawla picks up promptly. Uthappa walks back after a steady innings, with Baba Aparajith next to walk in to the crease.
OUT! Robin Uthappa c & b Chawla 30 (72)
The Uthappa-Rahul pair are on the verge of completing a 100-run opening stand, which is a dream start for South Zone in their chase of the stiff target. While Rahul has made his way into the 60s, smashing eight fours and two sixes, Uthappa has has reached a score of 23 from 57 balls.
KL Rahul brings up fifty off 54 deliveries in the 17th over with a six over mid-wicket. Rahul is in spanking form at the moment, and will be a crucial figure in South’s chase of the challenging target.
Uthappa brings up the fifty-run partnership at the start of the 12th over bowled by Ishwar Pandey, moving into the double-digit figures himself. This was also Uthappa’s first boundary of the innings as he has been going slow so far. Rahul is on the edge of another half-century in the meantime. The umpires call for Tea at the end of 15 overs, with South Zone reaching 62 for no loss.
Lokesh Rahul reached a personal milestone when he smashed a boundary towards mid-wicket off the last delivery off the ninth over bowled by Pankaj Singh. His career tally read 2,002 runs when re reached the score of 32 from 28 balls, hitting six boundaries to reach that mark. The fourth innings is going very well for South so far. Uthappa, on the other hand, is taking his time to score the runs, managing six runs from the 26 balls that he has faced so far.
South Zone are off to a flying start!! They begin their chase of the 301-run target with a flurry of boundaries, as if they intend to chase it down before end of the day. While the first over is bowled by Pankaj Singh, the second over goes for a major 12 runs due to three boundaries, all of which are hit by Rahul. Uthappa gets a solitary run off the next over, while the fourth over sees Rahul party once again with two consecutive fours. South skipper Vinay Kumar would be delighted with their progress so far in the innings.
Gopal strikes twice in the 106th over. Central Zone have been dismissed for a score of 403 from 105.5 overs. Bist remains unbeaten on the other end, although he would be happy to have completed his eighth FC century and helped Central move past the 400-run mark, setting South Zone a target of 301 in the process. Pankaj smashes the first ball that he faces for a six over long on, where fielder is unable to hold on to a catch and lets the ball through. The lofty pacer tries to repeat it in the next delivery, which is tossed up outside off, but Pankaj manages to get a big top-edge this time, giving the fielder at cover, where Baba Aparajith gladly takes the catch.
OUT! Pankaj Singh c Aparajith b Gopal 6 (2)
Shreyas Gopal’s reintroduction to the attack proves useful for South as the ninth wicket falls for Central Zone, with Robin Bist stranded on the other end. Pandey tries to defend the well-pitched delivery, but misses the line of the ball completely as it undergoes a substantial turn and crashes into the batsman’s leg stump, uprooting it in the process.
OUT! Ishwar Pandey b Gopal 17 (19)
Pandey gets into the act by smashing Ojha for a four and a six off consecutive balls in the 104th over of Central’s innings, reaching the double-digit figures in a flash. Should be a happy sight for both Bist, as well as skipper Chawla, as the prospect of crossing the 400-run mark looks strong at the moment. The boundaries are flowing at the moment. HS Sharath is brought into the attack in the 105th over, and Pandey dispatches the final delivery of his over for another four.
Bist completes a fine century, and brings it up in style by smashing Mithun over mid-wicket. This is Bist’s ninth century, and his second in Duleep Trophy history. Bist has been the backbone of Central’s second innings so far, and the Delhi-born batsman will hope to take his team past the 400-run mark in order to set a challenging target for South Zone.
A fine innings and a partnership comes to an end as Murtaza is dismissed by Abhimanyu Mithun after reaching his second FC half-century, which was brought up after the completion of the 100-run partnership between him and Bist. The damage though, has been done by the duo on South as they managed to add a 100 runs after the fall of two quick wickets that gave South Zone some hope of ending Central’s innings quickly. Ishwar Pandey to walk in next, while Bist is on the verge of completing his ninth century.
OUT! Ali Murtaza c Karthik b Mithun 50 (67)
South captain Vinay Kumar took himself out of the attack in the 96th over, and passed the baton to Ojha, who has been the leading wicket-taker for them so far. Murtaza in the meantime, has been playing some attacking shots, such as the pulls and the cuts, in his innings so far, as he looks to bring up his half-century. Baba Aparajith is reintroduced in the 97th over. And its Lunch at the end of the 97th over.
The 50-run partnership between Bist and Murtaza has been completed at the end of the 90th over, and is beginning to become a source of frustration for South Zone. Bist has now moved into the 80s and is getting strong support from Murtaza at the other end, who is batting at 25 from 42 deliveries.
The 300-run mark has been breached by Central Zone, and skipper Piyush Chawla will be happy with his team, especially with Robin Bist’s efforts, who has reached the 70’s after getting the boundaries off his bat at regular intervals. Central will hope that he lasts till the end of the second session, after completing his century of course.
Ali Murtaza shows signs of aggression when he smashes Ojha for a six over the umpire’s head. Bist completes a milestone in the next over when he smashes Aparajith for a a six over long-off to bring up his 23rd half-century, his second in the match. Bist has been in great form in the tournament so far, and is Central’s last hope for reaching a decent total, which would be a minimum of 300 runs, and help set a challenging target for South Zone.
Dinesh Karthik is on a roll at the moment, effecting his second stumping of the day in nine deliveries, this time Baba Aparajith claiming the wicket to remove central zone skipper Piyush Chawla for en eigtht ball-duck. Pitched outside off, Chawla dances down the pitch with a mood to smash the ball over the bowler’s head, and ends up with missing the line of the ball completely as the ball spun the other way. Karthik shows his brilliance once again as his reflexes help South take the seventh wicket. The umpires call for a drinks break, with South Zone in a clear mood to wipe out the rest of the batting order. Ali Murtaza will walk out to bat next as the umpires call for a drinks break.
OUT! Piyush Chawla st Karthik b Aparajith 0 (8)
Baba Aparajith is introduced in the 77th over, and produces a couple of terrific deliveries in the process. Ojha however strikes in the next over as he manages to get Ghosh stumped for a score of 22. The pitch produces a huge turn for the batsman, which made Ghosh stretch for the delivery, taking his foot slightly out of the crease. Karthik was quick to collect the ball and shatter the stumps, and an equally good decision was taken by umpire Srinath in the process. A strong-looking partnership comes to an end, with Piyush Chawla coming in to bat next.
OUT! Arindam Ghosh st Karthik b Ojha 22 (47)
Arindam Ghosh has moved into the double figures, and attacks Pragyan Ojha once again, this time coming down the track to dispatch a well-flighted delivery over the cover region. Bist, who top-scored for Central in the first innings with a score of 79, is nearing his 23rd First Class half-century. 250 up for Central, and crossing the 300-run mark should not be too difficult for them if Bist and Ghosh can stick to the crease.
Robin Bist reaches a personal milestone when he completes 4,000 First Class runs by picking up three runs. Bist now has 4,002 runs from 58 Tests at an impressive average of 48.80. Arindam Ghosh starts to open up to the attack with a boundary off the fourth delivery of the 70th over bowled by Pragyan Ojha.
Play begins on the fourth day of the big final at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Saturday. The pitch is expected to be slow in nature, although it will produce some uneven bounce during the course of the day. Mahesh Rawat faces the first over of the day bowled by skipper R Vinay Kumar, sending the fourth delivery for a boundary towards the square leg boundary. The second over is a wicket-maiden bowled by Pragyan Ojha, who does the damage in the 66th over when he removes Mahesh Rawat for 16. Arindam Ghosh walks out to bat, as half of Central’s batsmen are back in the pavilion by now.
OUT! Mahesh Rawat lbw Ojha 16 (24)

Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s coverage of the final of the Duleep Trophy 2014-15 between Central Zone and South Zone at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. Central Zone finished at a score of 214 for the loss of four wickets at the end of play on Day Three. Robin Bist and Mahesh Rawat were unbeaten on scores of 26 and 11 respectively when the umpires took the bails off to call for stumps. Shreyas Gopal took two wickets for South Zone, conceding 43 runs in the process, while Pragyan Ojha and skipper Vinay Kumar took the other wickets, giving away 52 and 56 runs respectively.

The day began with South Zone resuming from their imposing overnight score of 308 for four, with Lokesh Rahul and Hanuman Vihari batting on scores of 168 and 38 respectively. The duo began on a smooth note, getting the boundaries in regular intervals during the overs of Pankaj Singh and Ishwar Pandey. Vihari was especially ruthless on the bowlers, sending the ball across and over the ropes regularly, bringing up his half-century in no time. Piyush Chawla decided to get himself on along with left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza into the attack with the hope of breaking the partnership, which was looking threatening at that point of time, and preventing the South batsmen from getting away with the match. And the duo managed to do exactly that, getting rid of the pair shortly thereafter.

The first to depart was Rahul, who was unlucky to miss out on a double century, missing the line of a Chawla delivery completely dismissed for 185. Vihari departed almost immediately, though this time he fell victim to a Murtaza delivery that was cleverly pitched and prompted him to charge down, only to get an inside edge and see his stumps rattled.

Top-scorer from the previous innings, Robin Bist, was teamed up with Naman Ojha, and both were new to the crease and had an enormous responsibility on their hands after the departure of two set batsmen. Naman however, edged a Shreyas Gopal delivery. which was caught at the slips by Robin Uthappa. The fourth wicket to fall was that of Ashok Menaria, as he was trapped leg-before.

Central are still in a position of control at the moment, and the two batsmen present at the crease tomorrow need to ensure that they keep the momentum of the run-flow going. On the other hand, South will hope to get some early strikes tomorrow morning, to trigger a collapse that they witnessed in their own innings.

Teams:

Central Zone: Jalaj Saxena, Faiz Fazal, Robin Bist, Naman Ojha (wk), Ashok Menaria, Mahesh Rawat, Arindam Ghosh, Piyush Chawla(C), Ali Murtaza, Ishwar Pandey, Pankaj Singh

South Zone: Robin Uthappa, Lokesh Rahul, Hanuma Vihari, Baba Aparajith, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Prasanna, Shreyas Gopal, Vinay Kumar (c), Abhimanyu Mithun, Pragyan Ojha, HS Sharath


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