<p>Resuming on 300 for seven, Central Zone folded up for 333 but the Meerut paceman (5/48) polished off the top-four rival batsmen to reduce South to 65 for five.<br /><br />The lower-middle and lower order batsmen, however, saved South Zone the blushes as gritty knocks from CM Gautam (52), R Ashwin (58), C Ganapathy (33) and R Vinay Kumar (44 batting) helped them reach 254 for eight in their first innings.<br /><br />Shadab Jakati (0) was giving Vinay Kumar the company at stumps with the side still trailing Central Zone by 79 runs.<br /><br />After Praveen’s fiery display, left-armer RP Singh (2/58) got into act and dismissed both Gautam and Ashwin to wrest back control over the match.<br /><br />Vinay is now standing between Central Zone and first innings lead, which would be crucial to decide the outcome of the tie.<br /><br />Earlier, Piyush Chawla missed out on a century but his unbeaten 90 helped Central Zone add 33 important runs to their overnight total of 300 for seven.<br />Piyush lost his partner Praveen (21), who could add just four runs to his overnight total, when he became a victim of Vinay Kumar.<br /><br />Piyush added 20 more runs to the total but ran out of partners as Vinay took the last three wickets of the Central Zone to complete his five-wicket haul. <br /><br />SCORE BOARD<br /><br />CENTRAL ZONE (I Innings, 300/7): Tanmay Srivastava c Badrinath b Mithun 42, Jalaj Saxena b Mithun 7, Sanjay Bangar lbw Mithun 4, Mohammad Kaif c Pandey b Vinay Kumar 112, Suresh Raina c Ashwin b Jakati 22, Parvinder Singh c Karthik b Ganapathy 1, Naman Ojha c Karthik b Vinay Kumar 14, Piyush Chawla 90 (not out), Praveen Kumar c Uthappa b Vinay Kumar 21, RP Singh c Mukund b Vinay Kumar 7, Pankaj Singh b Vinay Kumar 1. Extras (LB-8, W-1, NB-3) 12. Total (all out, 100.5 overs) 333.<br /><br />Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-31, 3-86, 4-125, 5-126, 6-154, 7-272, 8-307, 9-315.<br />Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 28.5-2-102-5, Abhimanyu Mithun 23-5-64-3, C Ganapathy 14.2-3-34-1, R Ashwin 18.4-2-70-0, Shadab Jakati 14-2-49-1, Abhinav Mukund 2-0-6-0.<br /><br />SOUTH ZONE (I Innings): Robin Uthappa c Kaif b Praveen 19, Abhinav Mukund c Ojha b Praveen 13, KB Arun Karthik c Ojha b Praven 8, S Badrinath c Chawla b Praveen 9, Manish Pandey lbw b Pankaj Singh 15, Gautam CM lbw RP Singh 52, R Ashwin lbw RP Singh 58, C Ganapathy c Ojha b Praven 33, R Vinay Kumar (batting) 44, Shadab Jakati (batting) 0. Extras ( LB-2, W-1) 3. Total (for 8 wkts, 73 overs) 254.<br /><br />Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-37, 3-46, 4-61, 5-65, 6-173, 7-176, 8-253.<br />Bowling: Praveen Kumar 17-5-48-5-1, RP Singh 18-5-58-2, Pankaj Singh 16-2-48-1, Sanjay Bangar 10-1-44-0, Piyush Chawla 9-0-45-0, Jalaj Saxena 3-1-9-0.<br /></p>
<p>Resuming on 300 for seven, Central Zone folded up for 333 but the Meerut paceman (5/48) polished off the top-four rival batsmen to reduce South to 65 for five.<br /><br />The lower-middle and lower order batsmen, however, saved South Zone the blushes as gritty knocks from CM Gautam (52), R Ashwin (58), C Ganapathy (33) and R Vinay Kumar (44 batting) helped them reach 254 for eight in their first innings.<br /><br />Shadab Jakati (0) was giving Vinay Kumar the company at stumps with the side still trailing Central Zone by 79 runs.<br /><br />After Praveen’s fiery display, left-armer RP Singh (2/58) got into act and dismissed both Gautam and Ashwin to wrest back control over the match.<br /><br />Vinay is now standing between Central Zone and first innings lead, which would be crucial to decide the outcome of the tie.<br /><br />Earlier, Piyush Chawla missed out on a century but his unbeaten 90 helped Central Zone add 33 important runs to their overnight total of 300 for seven.<br />Piyush lost his partner Praveen (21), who could add just four runs to his overnight total, when he became a victim of Vinay Kumar.<br /><br />Piyush added 20 more runs to the total but ran out of partners as Vinay took the last three wickets of the Central Zone to complete his five-wicket haul. <br /><br />SCORE BOARD<br /><br />CENTRAL ZONE (I Innings, 300/7): Tanmay Srivastava c Badrinath b Mithun 42, Jalaj Saxena b Mithun 7, Sanjay Bangar lbw Mithun 4, Mohammad Kaif c Pandey b Vinay Kumar 112, Suresh Raina c Ashwin b Jakati 22, Parvinder Singh c Karthik b Ganapathy 1, Naman Ojha c Karthik b Vinay Kumar 14, Piyush Chawla 90 (not out), Praveen Kumar c Uthappa b Vinay Kumar 21, RP Singh c Mukund b Vinay Kumar 7, Pankaj Singh b Vinay Kumar 1. Extras (LB-8, W-1, NB-3) 12. Total (all out, 100.5 overs) 333.<br /><br />Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-31, 3-86, 4-125, 5-126, 6-154, 7-272, 8-307, 9-315.<br />Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 28.5-2-102-5, Abhimanyu Mithun 23-5-64-3, C Ganapathy 14.2-3-34-1, R Ashwin 18.4-2-70-0, Shadab Jakati 14-2-49-1, Abhinav Mukund 2-0-6-0.<br /><br />SOUTH ZONE (I Innings): Robin Uthappa c Kaif b Praveen 19, Abhinav Mukund c Ojha b Praveen 13, KB Arun Karthik c Ojha b Praven 8, S Badrinath c Chawla b Praveen 9, Manish Pandey lbw b Pankaj Singh 15, Gautam CM lbw RP Singh 52, R Ashwin lbw RP Singh 58, C Ganapathy c Ojha b Praven 33, R Vinay Kumar (batting) 44, Shadab Jakati (batting) 0. Extras ( LB-2, W-1) 3. Total (for 8 wkts, 73 overs) 254.<br /><br />Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-37, 3-46, 4-61, 5-65, 6-173, 7-176, 8-253.<br />Bowling: Praveen Kumar 17-5-48-5-1, RP Singh 18-5-58-2, Pankaj Singh 16-2-48-1, Sanjay Bangar 10-1-44-0, Piyush Chawla 9-0-45-0, Jalaj Saxena 3-1-9-0.<br /></p>