South Zone beat West Zone by 250 runs

South Zone registered a convincing 250-run victory against West Zone and claimed four points in their Duleep Trophy opening tie at the Usharaje Ground on Sunday.

West, chasing a victory target of 419, gave away the chase after scoring 168 for nine. Sairaj Bahutule did not bat due to an injury as West Zone were folded up with two sessions remaining.

West, who scored a meager 180 in reply to South's 291, were once again rattled by the South attack led by veteran spinner Anil Kumble (3-37), S Sreesanth (2-59) P P Ojha (2-43) in the second innings.

Resuming at their overnight score of 60 for three, only Dheeraj Jadhav (43, 4x5) and Zaheer Khan (33) could offer some resistance to the South bowlers.

Veteran Jacob Martin (19), captain Parthiv Patel (14), Ravindra Jadeja (21) and Rajesh Pawar (21) are the other West batsmen who reached the double figure.

Robin Uthappa and V Venugopal Rao took one wicket each.

South Zone first innings: 291 all out
West Zone first innings: 180 for nine
South Zone second innings: 307 for nine declared
West Zone 2nd innings:
C Poojara lbw b R Uthappa              05
D Jadhav lbw b A Kumble                43
R Sharma C g rao (sub)  b S Sreesanth  07
J Martin b A Kumble                    19
A Mazumdar lbw b A Kumble              00
P Patel  lbw   b V V Rao               14
R Jadeja  b S Sreesanth                21
R Pawar c A Kumble b P Ojha            21
Z Khan  c A Kumble b P Ojha            33
S Trivedi not out                      01
S Bahatule Did not bat
Extras   (Lb 2, By 2)                       4
Total (for 9 wickets in 55.3 overs) 168

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-20, 3-60, 4-60, 5-79, 6-101, 7-116, 8-161, 9-168.

Bowling: S Sreesanth 16-6-59-2, R Uthappa 5-3-7-1, A Kumble 15-5-37-3, P P Ojha 12.3-1-43-2, V Venugopal Rao 7-2-18-1.