East Zone take big lead

Sourav Ganguly failed to sparkle but his team East Zone piled up 362 for 9 declared to take a 206-run lead over Zimbabwe President's XI on the second day of the four-day Duleep Trophy league cricket match here today.

Ganguly struck three fours in his 14-run knock before pulling Zimbabwe XI leg spinner Graeme Cremer to short mid wicket fielder Hamilton Masakadza after the fall of openers Arindam Das (80) and Shiv Sunder Das (61).

The deposed Indian captain, who hit a century in the previous Duleep tie at Rajkot against North Zone, faced 48 balls before getting out.

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East Zone, overnight 108 for no loss, lost wickets regularly against the improved Zimbabwe attack once openers Arindam Das and Shiv Sunder Das were separated at 131 and slumped to 281 for seven before Ganguly declared their first innings at 362 for 9.

Arindam Das struck 12 fours while Shiv Suinder Das hit 9. One-down batsman Vasant Saravanan made 52 with 11 fours before Zimbabwe hit back.

Wicketkeeper Deep Dastupta remained unbeaten on 56 off 118 balls with six fours and also added 54 runs for the eighth wicket with Shahbaz Nadeem (36) before Zimbabwe summoned the second new ball and broke the stand at 335.

Ganguly declared when play had spilled past the regular closing hours and in seven overs of batting, the visitors managed to score 20 for no loss, still needing 186 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

Zimbabwe XI had made 156 in their first essay yesterday.

Scoreboard on the second day of the four-day Duleep Trophy match between East Zone and Zimbabwe President's XI today.

Zimbabwe XI Ist Innings: 156

East Zone Ist Innings (Overnight 108 for 0)
A Das c Coventry b Ireland                80
S S Das c Taylor b Mwayenga               61
V Saravanan c Ibrahim b Cremer            52
S Ganguly c Masakadza b Cremer            14
R Gavaskar c Utseya b Ireland             32
L R Shukla lbw Utseya                      1
D Dasgupta not out                        56
S Lahiri lbw Ireland                       0
S Nadeem c Taylor b Mahwire               36
S S Paul b Mahwire                         1
R Bose not out                             2
Extras: (b 1, lb 6, nb 20)                27
Total: (For 9 decl. in 108 overs)        362
Fall of wickets: 1-131, 2-173, 3-211, 4-227, 5-231, 6-281, 7-281, 8-335, 9-353.

Bowling: Mahwire 27-8-79-2; Mwayenga 23-4-68-1; Ireland 18-2-63-3; Utseya 19-4-63-1; Cremer 21-3-82-2.

Zimbabwe XI 2nd Innings:
T Duffin batting                         14
Neil Fereira batting                      6
Total: (for no loss in 7 overs)          20

Bowling: Paul 2-1-9-0, Bose 2-1-4-0, Lahiri 2-1-1-0, Nadeem 1-0-6-0.