West Zone beat South Zone by 274 runs on Monday to lift the Duleep Trophy for the 17th time. 

South Zone, chasing a target of 678, were dismissed for 403 on the concluding day of the five-day encounter at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Resuming at their overnight 232/4, South Zone lost skipper Subramaniam Badrinath for 59 who holed out at long-on attempting to hoist left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar.

His dismissal ended a 121-run stand for the fifth wicket with Dinesh Karthik (75), as also South’s hopes of forcing a face-saving draw.

Thereafter, it was just a matter of time before West picked up the remaining wickets as the rotund and crafty Romesh Powar teased and tormented the batsmen to pick up the remaining wickets for an innings haul of 7/140 and match figures of 10/287.

Badrinath admitted that South was outplayed. “We did not apply ourselves in the first innings and a target of 678 on any pitch is a bit too much,” he said.

West Zone captain Wasim Jaffer said the Duleep Trophy capped a fine season for him and his team. “South had a great batting line-up, but we took crucial wickets on the third morning,” he pointed out.

Powar’s first victim, on Monday, was Arjun Yadav whose attempted drive without moving his feet resulted in a tame catch to Pawar.

A little later, Karthik’s hit-wicket dismissal when he shouldered arms to Powar only to disturb the bails with his right pad, was the final nail in South’s coffin.

All-rounder R. Ashwin (46 not out) and M. Suresh (28) offered some resistance with a 58-run partnership for the seventh wicket, but they only delayed the inevitable.

The exit of Suresh, bowled by Powar, hastened the end as the wily off-spinner picked up the two remaining wickets, those of Shadab Jakati and Sreesanth in one over with last man R. Vinay Kumar, suffering from back spasms, opting not to bat.

Chasing a daunting 678 for victory, South Zone squandered the fine start given by their openers Robin Uthappa (94) and M Vijay (63) to end the fourth and penultimate day of the Duleep Trophy final against West Zone at a precarious 232 for four in Chennai on Sunday.

Still 446 runs adrift of an unlikely win, the hosts had captain and first innings centurion Subramaniam Badrinath (35 not out) and wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik (27 not out) at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.

South Zone’s chase went haywire after Vijay and Uthappa’s solid first-wicket stand of 165. The duo negotiated the bowlers, particularly the spinners, confidently but both perished while going for ambitious shots.

Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid was dismissed for a duck when spinner Ramesh Powar’s skidding delivery knocked off his defences.

Powar earlier separated the opening pair, when Vijay edged one to Parthiv Patel. Uthappa, meanwhile, perished after trying to hit Rajesh Pawar over long off, giving away a simple catch to Siddharth Trivedi at mid-off.

Uthappa, who was dropped by Wasim Jaffer at first slip when on 17, made 94 off 98 balls with 12 boundaries and three mighty sixes.

Powar, who was the most economical bowler in the match, took two for 54 while Rajesh Pawar claimed a wicket conceding 74 runs.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 232 for 4, West Zone’s batsmen played freely to amass 417 for eight in their second innings before skipper Wasim Jaffer declared the innings.

Parthiv Patel recovered from a cramp on the leg sustained on Saturday to hit a worthy 131, comprising 15 fours and a six.

Abhishek Nayar, who was unbeaten with nine to his credit, went about the task with a well-made 44, hitting three fours and as many sixes during the innings.

Parthiv decided to bat again after having retired hurt on the third day due to cramps when on 64.

He was dismissed by off spinner R Ashwin, giving away a straight forward catch to Robin Uthappa at mid-wicket.

In the next delivery, Powar (7) too made his exit when he offered an easy catch to Vijay at point of off-spinner M Suresh.

Jaffer, however, declared his team’s second innings in the next three overs, with Rajesh Pawar (50) and Dhawal Kulkarni (8) remaining unbeaten.

West Zone took command of the Duleep Trophy final after scoring 459 in the first innings and then reducing South Zone to 106 for 4 by stumps on the second day of the five-day match at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Friday.

Skipper Subramaniam Badrinath, who was unbeaten on 54 at stumps, holds the key to South’s fortunes. Keeping him company at stumps was Dinesh Karthik on 5

Earlier, West, resuming at the overnight score of 303-5, were dismissed for 459 in 141.4 overs. Ajinkya Rahane, who was unbeaten on 109 at stumps on Day 1, top-scored with 165 runs.

Bhavik Thaker (73) and Kedar Jadhav (47) made useful contributions in the latter part of West’s innings to swell the total handsomely.

S Sreesanth (3-108) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3-134) were South’s most successful bowlers.

In reply, Robin Uthappa and Murali Vijay gave South a good start but soon found themselves in trouble with introduction of spin in the form of left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar and off-spinner Ramesh Powar.

Pawar scalped Vijay, the batsman edging one to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel and then Uthappa failed to read a delivery and was bowled Powar as he stepped out to hit him

Worse was in store for South as Rahul Dravid was caught at gully by Kedar Jadhav off Pawar’s bowling for 5.

Badrinath, who scored 200 in the semi-final against North, however, batted watchfully to keep South’s hopes alive.

Nine-time champions South Zone start favourites to win the title after a gap of 13 years when they lock horns with a depleted West Zone in their five-day final of the Duleep Trophy tournament on Thursday.

Led by S Badrinath, in the absence of an injured VVS Laxman, South Zone look stronger as West would be without Zaheer Khan, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja who are doing national duty in Sri Lanka.

South’s batting quartet of Rahul Dravid, Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik and R Ashwin are in good nick. Dravid, in particular, has found his form with two centuries in two matches, while Karthik has also two tons against Central Zone.

Though they will be missing their main bowler, Lakshmipathy Balaji, off to Sri Lanka as Munaf Patel’s replacement, the recovery of opening batsman M Vijay and pacer S Sreesanth from injuries has given them a boost.

Balaji has been replaced by Robin D’Souza from Goa in the South’s bowling attack but the team would depend on Sreesanth and leg-spinner M Suresh, who has claimed 12 wickets in two matches, to take the opposition wickets at MA Chidambaram stadium.

“Obviously, we will miss Balaji, but we are planning to go in with five bowlers and if our batting fires, then we would be in strong position. The pitch looks dry and is likely to take turn as the match progresses,” Badrinath said.

On the other hand, West Zone would rely on youngsters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who have been consistent with the willow in both Ranji Trophy and the Duleep matches, besides captain Wasim Jaffer.

“Both teams have strong batting line-ups and I feel the bowlers will make a difference. I am confident that we will do well in this match,” said Jaffer.

West have so far won the trophy on 16 occasions (13 outright and three joint winners) while South have won the title on nine occasions (one joint winner with West).

Teams

South Zone: S Badrinath (capt), Murali Vijay, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, S Sreesanth, Vinay Kumar, Saurav Bandekar, Robin D’Souza, M Suresh, Anoop Pai, Rohan Prem and Abhinav Mukund.

West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kedar Jadhav, Bhavik Thakker, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Siddarth Trivedi, Samad Fallah, Ajitesh Argal, Azharuddin Bilakhia, Abhishek Nayar and Ameya Shrikhende.

Umpires: Marias Eramus (South Africa) and Amish Saheba (India).

Third umpire: Shahvir Tarapore.

Match Referee: Sunil Chaturvedi.

Rajesh Pawar bowled a devastating spell to capture six wickets as West Zone shot out East for a paltry 171 and then scored 102 for two in reply on the first day of the four-day Duleep Trophy semi-final in Mumbai on Thursday.

Mumbai-born Baroda left-arm spinner Pawar triggered a dramatic post-lunch collapse in which East, put in to bat by West, lost wickets in a heap and were bowled out in the second session in 61.3 overs at the Brabourne Stadium.

Pawar, who changed from the pavilion side to the opposite end after his first spell of two overs, started the slide by capturing the wickets of left-hander Saurabh Tiwary (24) and wicketkeeper Wridhiman Saha (0) with successive deliveries.

He later scalped top scorer Rashmi Ranjan Parida, who made a patient 63, inclusive of nine fours in 220 minutes, before adding the wickets of Anand Katti, Ranadeb Bose and Ashok Dinda to his kitty, while Sidharth Trivedi accounted for B Mohanty, to terminate the innings abruptly.

The diminutive slow bowler, who spun the ball appreciably and tossed it up too, finished with 6 for 34; his productive second spell read an impressive 7.3-3-22-6.

East, sailing along and looking good for a sizeable total at 136 for three, with Parida and Saurabh Tiwary having added 61 runs for the fourth wicket, got bowled out in 280 minutes.

Commencing their reply post-tea, West lost opener and captain Wasim Jaffer (0) early and Ajinkya Rahane (23).  But Gujarat’s Bhavik Thaker (42) and in-form Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara (34) steadied the ship and took West to stumps without further loss with a stand of 70.

The wicket, with a sprinkling of grass and offering good carry and bounce, was not responsible for East’s capitulation against Pawar.

East lost their captain Shiv Sunder Das to Dhawal Kulkarni, the Mumbai pacer and highest wicket taker in the Ranji Trophy this season, in the fifth over.

The lanky Trivedi then accounted for Dibyendu Chakrabarty after the opener, dropped at the same total of 5 by Abhishek Nayar at leg gully off the same bowler, edged him to first slip Pujara.

Pujara later dropped Parida off Trivedi when the total read 54 for two and the one-down batsman utilised his escape to steady the innings.

Manoj Tiwary played an ambitious flick off Nayar in the first over of the medium pacer’s spell and the resultant skier was well caught by Trivedi at mid on, which left East struggling at 75 for 3 in the 27th over.

Saurabh Tiwary, who replaced Manoj, played some good cut shots and, with the well-settled Parida, started rebuilding the innings before Pawar lured him out of the crease with a flighted ball and had him caught smartly at short leg.

His dismissal started the slump from which East did not recover. Parida, till then cautious, also played a poor cross batted swipe against Pawar and was trapped in front.

The left arm spinner then ran through the bottom half with his flight and turn and at one time had taken three wickets in 14 balls.

Only some lusty hitting by last-man Dinda (12) spoilt his figures a bit. Halahar Das ran out of partners and was unbeaten on 15.