Kaif, Ojha lead Central Zone fightback

The visitors were struggling at 55 for three at one stage but India discard Kaif (78) and Ojha (50) stitched together unbeaten 114-run stand to walk out of second day's play with a decent total.

Earlier, East Zone resumed at 328 for five and lost last five wickets after adding 99 runs to the total.Wridhhiman Saha, who was unbeaten on 18 yesterday, grabbed valuable 69 runs before being run out.

Saha's 69 included 11 hits to the fence and one over it as he batted for 148 minutes facing 98 balls.

Central Zone made a disastrous start as it lost M D Mishra (0) without opening account and Aakash Chopra (3) too departed when the scorecard was reading just three.
The third wicket fell at 55 when Hrishikesh Kanitkar was caught by Natraj Behera off Iresh Saxena for 29.

A new lease of life was infused to Central Zone's batting Kaif took command and collected valuable 78 runs aided by 12 hits to the boundary.Kaif was supported well by Ojha, who scored a patient 50 as both were at the crease at the end of second day's play.

For East Zone, Ashok Dinda, B C Mohanty and Iresh Saxena captured a wicket apiece.

Brief Score:
East Zone (First Innings) : 427 for 10 wickets
Central Zone (First Innings : 169 for 3 wickets.

 Scoreboard
East Zone (First Innings):
Natraj Behera    ct A S Chopra b P S Singh 12
S P Goswami        ct U T Yadav b M Kartik   37
I R Jaggi        ct M Kaif b P S Singh    118
M S Tiwary        lbw b P S SIngh         109
S S Tiwary        ro N Ojha/U T Yadav      19
W P Saha           ro R P Singh          69
A R Sahoo    ct D Bundela b U T Yadav      18
N J Behera    ct wk N V Ojha b P S Singh       1
Ashok Dinda    ct H H Kanitkar b R P Singh      14
Iresh Saxena  b M Kartik              17
BC Mohanty    not out                   1
Extras: (5-nb, 2-wd, 3-lb, 2-b)                  12
Total : (10 wickets)                 427
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-78, 3-286, 4-291, 5-320, 6-351, 7-354, 8-382, 9-417, 10-427.
Central Zone Bowling:
R P Singh 26-4-93-1, P S Singh 34-5-126-4, U Yadav 23-6-72-1, M Kartik 20-3-92-2, D N Bundela 9-2-18-0, A Menaria 1-0-16-0, H H Kanitkar 1-0-5-0.

Central Zone (First Innings) :
A S Chopra    c wk W P Saha b Ashok Dinda    3
M D Mishra    c wk W P Saha b B C Mohanty     0
H H Kanitkar   c Natraj Behera b Iresh Sxena  29
M Kaif                not out               78
N V Ojha        not out               50
Extras      (2-nb, 7-lb)                    9
Total     (For 3 wickets)              169
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-4, 3-55
Bowling: Ashok Dinda 17-5-49-1, B C Mohanty 17-5-33-1, A R Sahoo 13-2-23-0, Iresh Saxena 14-1-48-1, M S Tiwary 1-0-9-0.