If the first day was all about the application of mind by an individual, the second day was all about what can happen if a team performs collectively, where everyone knows their job pretty well
South Zone’s day did not start off properly as Vinay Kumar was taken for boundaries by Joginder of the first two balls of the day. And even though, Vinay troubled Dogra he was largely ineffective in terms of taking a wicket. Badrinath then turned to his spin ace Ojha. He delivered and how? He beat Joginder with turn and forced Dogra to hit out to the mid-on fielder. Narwal and Ishant then stitched a valuable partnership before Narwal was castled by Aravind
When their turn to bat came around, South started a touch slowly and the innings gained steam with the skirmish between Ishant and Uthappa. Uthappa virtually went on the attack and just when he seemed set for a century, he gifted his wicket away
Pandey looked circumspect initially but then came into life with the introduction of the spinners. He punished Mithun Manhas and he too fell for a soft dismissal. The plan of South Zone seemed to be pretty simple. One batsman would attack the bowlers and the other would keep the wicket intact. Badrinath in what has become a habit for him started off slowly and accelerated till the wicket of Manish Pandey fell
After the wicket, South had a run of luck as Sumanth was LBW of a no-ball and a stumping chance was fluffed off him. With the largely ineffective attack, North would find it difficult to make inroads into the batting heavy South Zone line up
With South Zone scoring the runs at a fair clip, the match has opened up nicely and it could still go the either way if North Zone can pick up a few early wickets the first thing in the morning
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