Auqib Nabi’s heroics, Badoni’s double ton power North Zone into Duleep Trophy semis

Bengaluru, Aug 31: Ayush Badoni made a fluent double hundred in North Zone's comfortable entry into the Duleep Trophy semifinals on the basis of first-innings lead as their quarterfinal match against East Zone expectedly petered into a draw on the fourth and final day here Sunday.

Starting from overnight at 388 for two, North was in no mood to declare early and ended up at 658 for four for a mammoth lead of 833 runs before both the teams shook hands for a draw.

Badoni (204 off 223 balls) and Kanhaiya Wadhawan (23) remained not out. Badoni made most of North’s decision to bat on, making his second first-class double century in some style.

Overnight, 56, Badoni, played a near-flawless innings to bring his hundred in 123 balls with a single, and there was just a simple wave of the bat to celebrate the feat.

Even though he moved to 99 with a six off, Manishi.

At the other end, skipper Ankit Kumar (198), who started the first session from 168, had a wonderful chance to notch up a double tonne, but an attempt to pull pacer Mukhtar Hussain ended in the hands of Suraj Jaiswal at mid-on.

By then, Ankit and Badoni had moved their association to 150 for the third wicket.

East Zone's hopes for some respite were misplaced as Badoni, in the company of Nishant Sindhu (68, 91 lb, 2x4, 5x6), realised 157 runs to take North past the 600-run mark, and the overall lead also crossed 700.

The lone point of interest in an otherwise dreary day was Badoni reaching his double hundred, which he duly did in 222 balls.

The landmark arrived through a boundary, as in the final hour he made 54 runs off 55 balls.

Auqib Nabi of North Zone, who took five wickets, including a hat-trick, in East Zone's first innings, was adjudged man of the match.

So, why did North Zone decide to bat on despite having a chance to press for an outright victory?

"If we wanted, we could have gone for the result because we had the upper hand. But we didn't try because we were in the lead in the first innings. We did very good batting in the first innings and then bowling," said North Zone captain Ankit.

"We also wanted to keep Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana as fresh as possible (ahead of the upcoming Asia Cup.) But we made some wrong decisions, and we couldn't click in the batting in the first innings. Otherwise, we could have taken even more of an upper hand in the first innings."

Shami, Mukesh off the field

Senior pacer Mohammed Shami, who bowled 11 overs in the second innings of North Zone, stayed off the field, though he was spotted in his whites ahead of the day’s play.

In fact, Shami did not bowl in the last session on the third day as well.

East Zone skipper Riyan Parag said the veteran quick had a minor injury scare; hence, he was not used as a precautionary measure.

"No, I think he rolled over on his toe, and the other spike went over his toe, so that's why he couldn't bowl," said Parag after the match.

Mukesh did not bowl in the second innings at all after suffering a thigh niggle in the first innings.