North Zone were more than happy to take the five points and leave South Zone with three as a result of the drawn match between the two, in the Duleep Trophy match that ended at the IGMC stadium in Vijayawada on Sunday. Pace bowler Surendra Singh who picked up 5/115 for the North, stole the limelight from all the batsmen who made merry on a batting paradise.

Resuming on 372/6 on the final day, South had to virtually give up the run chase as they lost the remaining wickets quite cheaply. Surendra Singh claimed his fifth wicket of the innings by dismissing VST Naidu for 11. Robin Singh blasted 67 in just 51 balls smashing 3 sixes and 8 fours before he was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan also accounted for Venkatpathy Raju (7), the last man to be dismissed. Sunil Joshi remained unbeaten on 22 as Ashish Kapoor did not come out to bat due to the injury. North could have enforced the follow on as they had a lead of 231 runs lead after having dismissed South for 477. They decided to go in for batting practice, as it is these days in the domestic cricket in India.

North Zone had a party time with the bat second time around as no result was possible. Akash Chopra hit an unbeaten century of 125 in 187 balls. Chopra hit 18 boundaries and a six in his 251 minute stay at the crease. Vikram Rathour smashed 69 in 51 balls including 10 fours and 2 sixes. Dinesh Mongia who made a double century in the first innings missed out in the second as he was dismissed by Joshi for 4. Harbhajan who got promoted up the order scored 38 and fell to Sriram. In came Yuvraj Singh who has been through a lean patch and took the opportunity with both hands as he blasted 3 sixes and 9 boundaries in his unbeaten innings of 80 off 58 balls. North Zone were 326/3 in 58 overs at close of the match.

On January 11th North will meet West at Mohali and Central will meet East at Kanpur.

© CricInfo