Narender Pal Singh (3-44) and Hannumara Ramkishen (4-41) first ensured a quick end to the North Zone first innings, which lasted 85 minutes producing 65 runs on the second day of the five-day duel.

The North Zone medium-pacers then laboured in fine fashion to derail the South reply. However, skipper Vikram Rathore wasn't willing to rest on his bowlers laruels pointing to the presence of Robin Singh, who returned unconquered on 24. ``We will have to get him out early tomorrow because he is the one who can go for the runs,'' he said. Rathour, however, opined that the encounter now would be decided in the fourth innings.

The South Zone vice-captain and wicket-keeper Somasekhar Shiraguppi (batting 17) managed to salvage the side after being reduced to 148-5, with an unbeaten 44-runstand when stumps were drawn, 45 minutes behind schedule. The situation would have been worse, had not the North fieldsmen let off both the batsmen. Bhandari spilled a return catch when Shiraguppi was on 11 and later Pankaj Dharmani grassed a skier while covering almost 15-yards to give a new lease of life to Robin. The batsmen then was on 12.

On a track offering equal assistance to the slow and fast bowlers, South appeared to have offset the early loss of opener Sujit Somasundar (18) and Sridharan Sriram (11) when Vijay Bharadwaj (23) joined left-handed opener Arvind Shetty (59).

However, Shetty's miscued hook off Harvinder ended the third-wicket pair's resistance worth 44 runs. The 20-year-old Bhandari, who impressed with his rythm and line, claimed Bharadwaj, slashing to point fielder Rajeev Nayyar. Sridharan Sharath (14) too didn't last long and South, who were cruising on 133-2 at one stage had lost three wickets for the addition of 15 runs.

Though the South batsmen had themselves to be blamed fortheir dismissals, it was a just reward for the tireless efforts of the North paceman, who shouldered most of the burden today.

Earlier, Narender Pal Singh played the lead role in mopping up the North innings. The 25-year-old Hyderabad medium-pacer returned fine figures of 9-1-31-3 in an unchanged spell today. Ramkishen, who was brought late into the attack signalled the closure dismissing lastman Bhandari with his ninth delivery of the day.

Scoreboard

North Zone (1st innings, overnight 160-5): Jitender Singh c Bharadwaj b Ramkishen 35 (146b, 200m, 6x4), Vikram Rathour b Robin Singh 26 (102b, 145m, 2x4), Rajeev Nayyar c Bharadwaj b NP Singh 52 (218b, 252m, 2x4), Pankaj Dharmani c Shiraguppi b Ramkishen 0 (2b, 2m), Virendra Sehwag c Shiraguppi b Ramkishen 0 (4b, 8m), Mithun Manhas b Raju 19 (38b, 52m, 3x4), Vijay Dahiya b NP Singh 27 (79b, 112m, 4x4), Pradeep Jain lbw Robin Singh 11 (9b, 25m, 2x4), Harvinder Singh b NP Singh 15 (14b, 19m, 1x4, 1x6), Amit Bhandari b Ramkishen 18 (30b, 45m, 4x4),Ashish Nehra not out 10 (19b, 30m); Extras (b4, lb4, nb4) 12. Total (in 109.3 overs, 449 minutes) 225

Fall Of Wickets: 1-56, 2-77, 3-77, 4-77, 5-113, 6-162, 7-181, 8-185, 9-201

Bowling: Narender Pal Singh 26-12-44-3, Ramkishen 15.3-3-41-4 (2nb), Robin Singh 24-6-62-2 (1nb), Raju 22-11-25-1 (1nb), Ananthapadmanabhan 19-7-36-0, Sriram 3-1-9-0

South Zone (1st innings): Sujit Somasunder c Dahiya b Nehra 18 (63b, 92m, 4x4), Arvind Shetty c Nayyar b Harvinder Singh 59 (139b, 217m, 8x4), Sridharan Sriram lbw b Sehwag 11 (51b, 65m), Vijay Bharadwaj c Nayyar b Bhandari 23 (39b, 65m, 4x4), Sridharan Sharath c Dahiya b Sehwag 14 (17b, 28m, 3x4), Robin Singh batting 24 (56b, 82m, 3x4, 1x6), Somasekhar Shiraguppi batting 17 (53b, 63m, 3x4); Extras: (5b, 4lb, 17nb) 26. Total (for five wickets off 66.5 overs) 192

Fall Of Wickets: 1-43, 2-89, 3-133, 4-137, 5-148

Bowling: Harvinder Singh 17.5-8-29-1, Nehra 18-2-61-1, Bhandari 17-2-59-1, Sehwag 11-4-20-2, Jain3-1-14-0