BENGALURU: Defensiveness was West Zone's initial approach. With the sun out and a surface which had some sparse grass, skipper Priyank Panchal played it safe and opted to bowl against South Zone in the Duleep Trophy final at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here.
The home team, the bridesmaids from last season, had every opportunity to beat the opposition's strategies and claim early advantage on Wednesday. But Hanuma Vihari and Co. handed the day's honours to the defending champions, scoring 182/7 in 65 overs when stumps were drawn. A fine 79-run partnership between Tilak Varma (40) and Vihari (63) proved face-saving for South.
Pacer Chintan Gaja (2/27) got some movement with the new ball in the first hour. Openers R Samarth (7) and Mayank Agarwal (28) did not make much of an impact, with the former the first to go after chasing an outside off delivery from Gaja to hand a regulation catch to wicketkeeper Harvik Desai. Agarwal struggled when left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja was introduced in the fifth over and later lived dangerously. After surviving a few edges, which carried to the boundary, he slashed at a delivery by Gaja and was taken by Sarfaraz Khan at gully.
Unlike the semifinal at the same venue, where Vihari didn't get his eye in early, the 29-year-old made a statement of intent with a classic cover drive off Atit Sheth. But he and Varma had to endure a dry run for a few overs before the duo took charge. They looked to put away at least one boundary an over, which they managed with reasonable success.
Six overs after lunch, Arzan Nagwaswalla broke the third-wicket association with Varma's miscued cut taken by a diving Desai, who had a good day behind the stumps. Thereafter, the runs dried up and Vihari too went into a shell. It didn't help South's cause that the middle order too stuttered. Vihari brought up his 50 off 103 deliveries, dispatching Shams Mulani (2/19) to the boundary.
Brief scores: South Zone 182/7 (Vihari 63, Tilak 40, Mulani 2-19, Gaja 2-27) vs West Zone
