Central Zone spinners, led by captain Piyush Chawla, weaved magic on a helpful track to steer the team to the Duleep Trophy title with a thrilling nine-run triumph over South Zone on Sunday.
Chasing a victory target of 301, South needed 117 runs on the final day with nine wickets intact. But on a pitch that was offering substantial turn, South lost 7 wickets for 39 runs to hand over the trophy to Chawla and comapany.
From a relatively comfortable 252 for three, they were all out for 291 in 88.4 overs.
Spin troika of Chawla (3/83 in 20 overs), Ali Murtaza (3/59) and Jalaj Saxena (2/44) shared the bulk of the spoils but it was Pankaj Singh’s (2/45) morning spell that started turning the complexion of the game.
