Sangwan inspires North fightback but South remain favourites to reach final

His exclusion from the Duleep Trophy quarter-final created a flutter but North Zone's stodgy left-handed opener Sanat Sangwan put the controversies to rest with a gutsy 76 even though South Zone looked poised to win the Duleep Trophy semi-final by the end of third day's play here Tuesday.

On the third morning, skipper Tilak Varma (116 not out) added 10 more runs to his overnight score and added a precious 42 runs for the final wicket with Kavuri Saiteja (12) to reach a decent first innings score of 312 and a handy lead of 117 runs.

In reply, North Zone finished the day at 256 for 7, largely due to Sangwan's 148-ball effort that had eight boundaries and a 104-run second wicket stand with Delhi teammate Ayush Doseja, who helped himself to his second half-century in the tournament.

The lead, however, is of only 139 runs as of now and to make a match of it, North will need to set a target of at least 200 runs and then expect to take 10 South Zone wickets in roughly two sessions.

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