Chand shines for North

KOCHI: A patient century by vice-captain Unmukt Chand (116) and a sensible half-century by Ian Dev Singh (95 retired hurt) guided North Zone to 329 for the loss of two wickets in the Duleep Trophy semifinal against East Zone at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi on Friday.
Chand, India’s U-19 World Cup winning captain in 2012, showed that he had a cool head on his young shoulders.Chand had displayed his class in the limited over version of the game with a century (119 from 131) against India Red for Delhi in September last week in a Challenger Cup match. On Friday, he showed that he was equally adept at the longer version of the game.
Having lost his opener Jiwanjot Singh (24) early in the morning, Chand spent around six hours at the crease and faced 230 balls with 17 hits to the fence and a six. Chand batted elegantly throughout his innings but scored quickly when loose balls came. Chand and Ian Dev added 198 for the second wicket which helped NZ take control over East Zone.
Chand was North Zone’s second wicket to lose on the second day when he lofted East Zone skipper and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem to Sunny Gupta inside the circle when the team total was 248.
At stumps, Rajat Palliwal was batting on 41 and giving him company was Mandeep Singh on 40.
Though East Zone skipper Wriddhiman Saha, who was ruled out due to injury, had claimed on the eve of the game that they would depend on their bowlers to make an impact, the East Zone bowlers’ show was not enough on a flat track to contain inform North batsmen. For East Zone, pacer Ashok Dinda (1/77) and Nadeem (1/88) picked up one wicket each.
Earlier in the morning, Unmukt and Jiwanjot started cautiously and did not allow the bowlers to take advantage. Unmukt was very watchful and more defensive in the first hour of play. The duo completed their fifty-run partnership in the 27th over but Ashok Dinda broke through in the next over. The ball came sharply into Jiwanjot and took the outside edge and Biplab Samatray held on to the chance at first slip. The score read 50/1 and Ian Dev Singh joined Unmukt in the middle. Chand-Ian Dev pair supported each other in the middle and completed their 100-run partnership in the 46th over.
Chand crossed the three-figure mark in the first over after tea slicing left-arm spinner Nadeem through deep point. Ian Dev too looked set for a ton but a hamstring injury prevented him from reaching the milestone.
Scoreboard: North Zone 1st innings: J Singh c Samantray b Dinda 24, U c Gupta b Nadeem 116, ID Singh retired hurt 95, Mandeep Singh not out 40, RS Paliwal not out 41. Extras: 13 (B3, LB 4, NB 6). Total (for 2 wickets in 112 overs) 329. FoW: 1-50, 2-248. Bowling: A Dinda: 27-8-77-1, B Mohanty 28-5-65-0, BB Samantray 11-5-21-0, S Nadeem 29-9-88-1, S Gupta 15-4-47-0, A Majumdar 2-0-24-0.