JOIN USSamantray keeps South in check
Orissa all-rounder Biplab Samantray’s fine spell kept defending champions East Zone in the hunt for a place in the Duleep Trophy final as South Zone were precariously placed at 134 for five at stumps on the second day of their semifinal after bowling out their opponents for 267, here on Monday.
Samantray took 3-22 in 14.1 overs as South now depend heavily on their last recognised batting pair of left-hander Amit Verma and wicketkeeper C M Gautham to add another 134 runs in order to gain the first innings lead.
Earlier, Saurabh Tiwary duly completed his century and compiled a patient 145 off 267 balls. His partnership of 153 runs for the seventh wicket with Basant Mohanty (58) helped them reach a fighting total after being reduced to 66 for six on the first day.
Samantray, who is known for his ability to move the ball, got rid of Karnataka trio of Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey and Stuart Binny as South were in a spot of bother after a solid opening stand of 69 between Robin Uthappa (40) and Abhinav Mukund (19).
Both Mukund and Uthappa were back in the pavilion within the space of 10 deliveries.
Mukund was bowled by Bengal’s left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena while Samantray got Uthappa, who looked ominous having hit seven fours, to edge one to S P Gautam behind the stumps.
Ashok Dinda trapped Ramaswamy Prasanna leg before as South were reduced to 71 for three.
Pandey (31) and Amit Verma (22 batting) then added 44 runs as South looked like recovering but Samantray struck twin blows.
First he castled Pandey and then trapped all-rounder Binny leg before off the very next delivery.
Score Board
EAST ZONE (I Innings, O/n: 187/6): Manish Vardhan c Pandey b Mithun 5; Dheeraj Jadhav c Verma b Vinay 1; Natraj Behera c Vinay b Binny 11; Anustup Majumdar c Gautam b Binny 4; Saurabh Tiwaru c Pandey b Srinivas 145; Biplab Samantray c Gautam b Mithun 6; Shiv Gautam c Gautam b Appanna 11; Basant Mohanty c Binny b Mithun 58; Iresh Saxena c Gautam b Binny 0; Ashok Dinda c Pandey b Mithun 6; Syed Quadri (not out) 4; Extras (B-8, LB-6, W-1, NB-1) 16; Total (all out, 106.3 overs) 267
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-15, 3-21, 4-21, 5-38, 6-66, 7-219, 8-243, 9-254.
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 22-3-45-1, A Mithun 24-4-68-4, Stuart Binny 20-7-46-3, R Prasanna 2-2-0-0, KP Appanna 18-5-40-1, R Aushik Srinivas 12.3-0-25-1, Amit Verma 5-0-21-0, A Mukund 3-0-8-0.
SOUTH ZONE (I Innings): Abhinav Mukund b Saxena 19; Robin Uthappa c Gautam b Samantray 40; R Prasanna lbw Dinda 2; Manish Pandey b Samantray 31; Amit Verma (batting) 22; Stuart Binny lbw Samantray 0; CM Gautam (batting) 8; Extras (B-4, NB-8) 12; Total (5 wickets; 48 overs) 134
Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-69, 3-71, 4-115, 5-115.
Bowling: Ashok Dinda 11.5-1-58-1, Basant Mohanty 13-3-29-0, Biplab Samantray 14.1-7-22-3, Iresh Saxena 9-3-21-1.