Duleep Trophy | Ankit, Dhull bat East out of the contest

North Zone batted East Zone out of the match, stretching its lead to a massive 563 runs by stumps, on day three of the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal at the BCCI Centre of Excellence here on Saturday.

After having secured a 175-run first-innings lead, North skipper Ankit Kumar (168 batting, 264b, 16×4, 1×6) and Yash Dhull (133, 157b, 14×4, 3×6) ran amok even as East — missing pacer Mukesh Kumar because of a thigh strain he suffered while bowling in the first essay — appeared spiritless, with its players’ heads mostly low and shoulders sagging on the penultimate day of the contest.

This is perhaps the biggest downside of the knockout format wherein the first-innings lead is enough for progress and earning a draw has zero value for a team on the back foot. In last year’s round-robin competition with four teams, every point mattered.

North, already ahead in the contest, thus chose not to enforce the follow on, and made merry. Ankit and Dhull were both reprieved — the former dropped on 112 and the latter when on 48, both off left-arm spinner Manishi.

Yash Dull celebrates his hundred.
| Photo Credit:
ALLEN EGENUSE

Dhull was aggressive from the get-go, showing a good mix of powerful strokes down the ground, and steers and drives to the off-side fence. Ankit was a notch slower but breezy in his shot-making.

Dhull moved into the 90s with back-to-back boundaries, following up an expansive drive with a cheeky lift over short-third. The 22-year-old got to his eighth First Class century with a single to mid-off.

Ankit, in a reversal of sorts, chose the spectacular, smashing Manishi for a maximum to get to his sixth First Class ton.

Dhull eventually fell leg-before to skipper and part-timer Riyan Parag after a 240-run association for the second wicket. But by then, the tie had long escaped East’s grasp, something made more evident by the fact that Mohammed Shami did not bowl a single over in the final session.

The scores: North 405 in 93.2 overs & 388/2 in 90 overs (Ankit Kumar 168 batting, Yash Dhull 133, Ayush Badoni 56 batting) vs. East 230 in 56.1 overs.

Central 532 for four decl. in 102 overs & 331/7 decl. in 80.3 overs (Shubham Sharma 122, Rajat Patidar 66, Yash Rathod 78) vs. North East 185 in 69.3 overs (Y. Karnajit 48, Ashish Thapa 35, Ankur Malik 42, Aditya Thakare 3/23).