Duleep Trophy: Sindhu's Five-For Bundles Out South Zone For 536 After Jagadeesan's 197

(MENAFN- IANS) Bengaluru, Sep 5 (IANS) Left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Nishant Sindhu claimed 5-125 in his 47.2 overs as North Zone bowled out South Zone for 536 in their first innings at stumps on day two of their Duleep Trophy semifinal clash at the BCCI COE Ground 1 on Friday.

For the South Zone, vice-captain and wicketkeeper-batter N. Jagadeesan played a marathon knock of 197 off 352 balls, laced with 16 fours and two sixes, and took his team to a strong position in the match.

Apart from Devdutt Padikkal's 57 on day one's play, South Zone were also aided by handy fifties from Ricky Bhui (54) and Tanay Thyagarajan (58), while Salman Nizar and Gurjapneet Singh also chipped in with 29 respectively.

Resuming from 297/3, South Zone lost Mohammed Azharuddeen (11) early, but Jagadeesan and Bhui helped them consolidate with an 87-run stand for the fifth wicket off 194 deliveries. Jagadeesan even survived a dropped chance on 163, when Sindhu couldn't hold on to a tough chance.

But Jagadeesan fell three runs short of a remarkable double century following a mix-up with Bhui that led to his run out just before lunch. Bhui reached his half-century after the lunch interval but was dismissed by Sindhu, who struck in his very first over of the second session.

Despite the fall of Bhui and Jagadeesan, South Zone continued to push their total forward through important lower-order contributions. Thyagarajan and Gurjapneet looked solid while sharing a crucial 63-run stand to take South Zone past 500 before Sindhu came in and dismissed the tail to wrap up the innings, even as the rest of the North Zone bowling attack toiled hard for their breakthroughs.

Brief scores:

South Zone 536 all out in 169.2 overs (N Jagadeesan 197, Tanay Thyagarajan 58; Nishant Sindhu 5-125, Anshul Kamboj 2-67) against North Zone

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