Mohanty demolishes North Zone

East Zone's Debashish Mohanty sparkled with a remarkable six-wicket haul to have North Zone reeling before they steadied somewhat to score a modest 206 on the first day of their Duleep Trophy match in Guwahati on Thursday.

The India discard had figures of 6 for 57 runs from the 21.1 overs he bowled.

East also had a shaky start while replying, losing two wickets for just 26 runs before stumps were drawn at the Maligaon Railway stadium.

North Zone skipper Vikram Rathore won the toss and elected to bat but before they could settle down the captain was caught by Deep Dasgupta off Zaman's ball with the scoreboard reading only four.

Yuvraj Singh, who was a key attraction for the locals following his international status, was the next disappointment, falling cheaply for six runs when he was caught and bowled by the day's star player Debashis Mohanty with the scoreboard reading 13.

Opener Akash Chopra was joined by North Zone's saviour of the day Dinesh Mongia, who scored a magnificent 72 runs off 100 balls, studded with ten fours.

Chopra was the next to go caught by Rohan Gavaskar off a Javed Zaman delivery with the score at 47 and was followed by Shahbag, Sodhi and Dahiya in quick succession.

Sharandeep Singh was another player who tried to stabilise the North Zone innings along with Mongia,w ho scored a whirlwind 29 compring five fours and a mighty six.

Singh was caught by Parida off a Diwakar delivery with the score at 148 and was followed by Mongia, who was caught by Deep Dasgupta off a Mohanty ball.

Mail Cricket Editor