North Zone in driver's seat against Central Zone

Jamshedpur, Oct 29 (UNI) North Zone earned a vital 155-run first innings lead over their rivals after bowling out Central Zone for 288 on the penultimate day of the four-day Duleep trophy match at the Keenan stadium here today.

At stumps North Zone were 72/1 in their second kncok losing opener Akash Chhopra for 29 (4x4).

In-form batsman Gautam Gambhir was batting with 33 with the help of five boudaries and Ravneet Ricky remained unbeaten on two.

Leg spinner Piyush Chawla scapled the wicket of Chopra.

North Zone were 227 runs ahead of Central Zone at the end of the day's play.

Earlier, resumed at overnight 85/2, the Central Zone failed to negotiate fine bowling of speed star Ashish Nehra, who was in a comeback trail in the Indian squad after an injury lay off and off spinner Rajesh Sharma. The duo picked up three wickets each conceding 60 and 58 runs respectively.

Another pacer VRV Singh also bagged two wickets off 96 runs while Gagandeep Singh and Joginder Sharma had one wicket apiece.

For Central Zone wicketkeeper Naman Ojha scored highest 67 runs with the help of ten fours before being stumped by Mahesh Rawat off Rajesh Sharma. Besides, TP Singh (31), Murali Karthik (33), captain J P Yadav (31) and Piyush Chawla (21) were the other contributors for their side.

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