Duleep Trophy: Late scalps keep East Zone in the game

CHENNAI: Left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena grabbed two late wickets to give holders East Zone a fighting chance of battling on for first innings honours against Central going into the final day of the rain-affected Duleep Trophy final.
Iresh Saxena dismissed Vineet Saxena (22) to break a crucial opening-wicket stand of 68 and then sent back the experienced Mohd Kaif leg-before for two in the last over on the rain-hit fourth day's play at the Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.
At stumps, Central were 74/2 with left-handed opener Tanmay Srivastava batting on a gritty 46, still needing another 159 runs with eight wickets in hand for the first innings lead that will allow them to wrest the silverware after a gap of seven seasons.
Only 34 overs of play was possible following overnight showers and Central's openers batted purposefully as they moved ahead with caution on a slow pitch that offered grip to spinners after resuming on 12/0.
Although there is the possibility of further showers, Central have an additional day's play to fall back on after the technical committee of the BCCI proposed a sixth day's play in knock-out games of the domestic competitions this year to reduce the impact of the toss as well as encourage evenly-fought contests.
Brief Scores: East Zone 232 vs Central Zone 74/2 in 36 overs (T Srivastava batting 46; Iresh Saxena 2/23)