da luck： The strong North Zone batting line up turned on the heat earlyin their Duleep Trophy semifinal against holders Central Zoneat Guwahati on Thursday
Partab Ramchand09-Dec-1999The strong North Zone batting line up turned on the heat earlyin their Duleep Trophy semifinal against holders Central Zoneat Guwahati on Thursday. At stumps on the opening day of thefive day match, North Zone had scored 302 for five off 90 overs.North Zone skipper Vikram Rathour won a good toss and then heand fellow opener Ashu Dani wasted no time in getting theirside off to a good start by putting on 98 runs in 19.4 overs.Ashu Dani, who was the dominant partner, was the first toleave, caught by Mudgal off Bangar for 53. He faced just 55balls and hit eight fours.Rathour and Reetinder Singh Sodhi then kept up the pressureon Central Zone by adding 73 runs for the second wicket off23.5 overs. Rathour was then caught by Jyoti Yadav off Hirwanifor 70. The Punjab batsman faced 131 balls and hit eight fours.The dismissal of Rathour did not bring any respite for CentralZone for Sodhi and Dharmani then got together for a thirdwicket stand that added 89 runs off 27.5 overs. Then Sodhiafter making 88 was caught by Mudgal off Hirwani. He faced152 balls and hit eleven fours and a six. Shortly afterwardsHirwani took his third straight wicket when he had Dharmanicaught by Gandhe for 52. The in form Dharmani faced 135 ballsand hit five of them to the ropes. Virendra Shewag who hit adouble century in the previous game against South Zone didnot last long and was bowled by Gandhe for 10. Rajiv Nayyar(13) and Dinesh Mongia (2) were together at stumps. Hirwani,the 31-year-old former Indian leg spinner was the only bowlerto make an impression and was rewarded with three wickets for71 runs from 25 overs.