The four-day Duleep Trophy league match between South Zone and East Zone was keenly poised at stumps on Tuesday with both teams placed with equal chance to force a win on the final day on Wednesday.

South bowled out East for a modest 163 in the second innings after having conceded a handy lead of 109 to their rivals and then advanced to 113 for three wickets by close, chasing 273 for victory in a minimum of 120 overs.
The hopes of South Zone mainly rested on their captain and most accomplished batsman S Badrinath who was unconquered on 42 after a stay of 130 minutes.

The other not out batsman was wicket-keeper Prasad Reddy and South require 160 more runs for a win with seven wickets intact on a pitch that still did not show signs of wear and tear.

South owed this position mainly to their bowlers, especially spinners R Ashwin (3 for 33) and Pragyan Ojha (2 for 54) who sliced through the East Zone middle-order after the early breakthroughs provided by medium pacers NC Aiyappa and P Vijay Kumar after East resumed at the overnight 5 for no loss.

The medium pacers ended up with two wickets apiece after accounting for openers Shiv Sunder Das, the East captain, and Arindam Das cheaply before off-spinner Ashwin and left-arm spinner Ojha reduced their rivals to 79 for six.