Chennai/Delhi, Feb 6:

South Zone v Central Zone, 1st semi-final

Chennai: Centuries form Naman Ojha (104) and Robin Bist (104*) have given Central Zone complete hold over South Zone at the end of Day 3 of the ongoing semifinal. At stumps, Central were 378 for five with a mammoth second-innings lead of 488 runs.

Central resumed their innings at 127 for one, with Ojha batting unbeaten on 79. The wicketkeeper-opener went on to add 25 runs before being castled by Stuart Binny (two for 34). Mohammad Kaif fell early to Abhimanyu Mithun, adding only a couple of runs to his overnight score of 41. Robin Bist then held fort for Central, well supported by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (59*) at the other end. Their partnership was worth 160 runs when stumps were drawn on Day 3.

As South toiled hard in the field, Binny was their most successful bowler with a couple of scalps. Mithun (one for 60) and Jagannath Kaushik (1 for 52) picked up a wicket each. Scorecard

North Zone v East Zone, 2nd semi-final

Delhi: Sitting pretty at 162 for three at the end of Day 2, North Zone were skittled for 287 runs by Ashok Dinda. The East Zone pacer wrecked havoc in the North’s batting order with a sensational spell of bowling and registered figures of eight for 123. The remaining two wickets went to Basant Mohanty, giving East a slender first-innings lead of 28 runs. Mandeep Singh was the only half-centurion for North with 55 runs.

In their second essay, East had put on 120 for three at the end of Day 3 with Manish Vardhan (59) and Anustup Majumdar (39) at the crease having added 75 runs for the second wicket. This after Parvinder Awana (one for 39) removed East skipper Natraj Behera (19) in the 14th over.

East will begin the final day of the match with a second-innings lead of 148 and nine wickets in hand. Scorecard