Boundary Line

South Zone took a commanding position in the Duleep Trophy semifinal as they skittled out Central Zone for 209.

South take control against Central

Chennai: South Zone took a commanding position in the Duleep Trophy semifinal as they skittled out Central Zone for 209 before reaching 137 for two in reply on Day Two. Resuming on 123 for 5,Central lost wickets at regular intervals with skipper Piyush Chawla being the teams top-scorer with 56. In reply,South were cruising along with captain Abhinav Mukund 61 and Baba Aparajith 35 at the crease when stumps were drawn. The hosts now need to score 73 more to take the first innings lead.

Brief scores: Central Zone 2009 all out in 85.4 overs Piyush Chawla 56,Mukul Dagar 45; Abhimanyu Mithun 3/29,Pragyan Ojha 3/49; South Zone 137/2 in 63 overs Abhinav Mukund batting 61,Baba Aparajith batting 35; Umesh Yadav 1/36,Piyush Chawla 1/40

North 329/2 after Chand century

Kochi: Unmukt Chand led the way with a patient century as North Zone posted 329 for two in their Duleep Trophy semifinal against East Zone. While the 20-year-old Chand made 116 off 230 balls,Ian Dev Singh retired hurt five short of a century with a hamstring injury. At stumps,Mandeep Singh and Rajat Paliwal were batting on 40 and 41 respectively,having added an unbroken 81 for the third wicket.

Chand struck 17 fours and a six during his stay at the crease while Ian Dev,in his 180-ball knock,hit 11 fours and two sixes.

Brief scores: North Zone 329/2 in 112 overs Unmukt Chand 116,Ian Dev Singh retd hurt 95,Mandeep Singh batting 40,Rajat Paliwal batting 41; Ashok Dinda 1/77 vs East Zone

Steyn,Amla return to SA T20 squad

Cape town: Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn are back in South Africas Twenty20 squad for a two-match series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates next month. Amla took a year-long break from the shortest format of the game,while Steyn has recovered from various injuries. Hashim is a world-class player across all the formats. His experience and stability at the top of the order are qualities that we believe will strengthen the squad in a key area, selector Andrew Hudson said. It is great to have Dale back as it means we now have all our senior players available again.