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South Zone in command

South Zone were fighting with their backs to the wall to avoid a follow-on on the third day of the four-day Duleep Trophy cricket match against North at the Maharaja Bir Bikram stadium, Agartala, today.

Replying to North's massive score of 589, South were 207 for four at stumps on the third day, trailing by 424 runs.

Resuming their first innings at the overnight score of 551 for six, North were able to add just 38 runs today before losing the last four wickets.

North's innings, which was powered by a record 381-run fifth wicket partnership between Virender Sehwag and Rajib Nayar, ended just before lunch.

Rajiv Nayar smacked a swashbuckling 118, as Nikhil Chopra (19), Shakti Singh (13) and Ashish Nehera (6) went cheaply. Navdip Singh remained unbeaten with one run.

Nayar's magnificent knock was studded with eleven hits to the rope.

South suffered early setbacks, losing their openers Nanda Kishore and Ashish Kapoor in their first over itself. Both fell to Ashish Nehra, the former to the fourth ball of the innings, while the latter to the sixth.

However, Thilak Naidu (55) and J R Madangopal (84) stemmed the rot and put up a semblance of respectability to the score.

At close, South skipper Robin Singh (26) and Sridharan Sharath (36) were unbeaten.

North Zone (1st innings):
A Dani lbw Mahesh 21
V Rathore c & b Raju 12
R S Sodhi lbw Singh 22
P Dharmani c Khan b Kapoor 59
R Nayyar c Nandakishore b Joshi 118
V Shewag st Shiraguppi b Raju 274
V Dahiya c Naidu b Kapoor 8
N Chopra c Nandakishore b Joshi 19
Shakti Singh c Singh b Joshi 13
Navdeep Singh not out 1
A Nehra b Joshi 6
Extras: (b17, lb8, nb11) 36
Total: (all out, 197.4 overs, 784 mins) 589
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-43, 3-90, 4-149, 5-530, 6-539, 7-564, 8-580, 9-583, 10-589
Bowling:
Khan 17-5-38-0 (2nb); Mahesh 26-3-100-1; Raju 50-14-129-2(2nb); Singh 21- 4-60-1 (3nb); Joshi 39.4-10-113- 4; Kapoor 43-9-116-2 (4nb); Sharath 1-0-7-0

South Zone (1st innings):
A Nandakishore lbw b Nehra 1
AR Kapoor c Dahiya b Nehra 0
VST Naidu c Dharmani b Sodhi 55
JR Madanagopal not out 83
S Sharath not out 21
Extras: (nb 5) 5
Total: (3 wickets, 51 overs) 165
To Bat: S Mahesh, S B Joshi, S L V Raju, M A Khan, R R Singh, S N Shiraguppi.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-2, 3-96
Bowling: Nehra 13- 3- 53- 2 (2nb); Shakti Singh 9 -1- 22- 0; Sodhi 9- 0- 27- 1 (3nb); Chopra 11-3-38-0-0; Navdeep Singh 9-1- 25- 0

UNI