RP celebrates with five wickets

Singh had suffered a hamstring strain during the Adelaide Test and was ruled out of the CB series that followed. Since then, he has followed a strict fitness routine at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. Having completed the recovery process and gaining match fitness in two Ranji one-dayers, RP is back among the wickets in the Deodhar Trophy.

For the selectors, who had assembled in Bangalore on Monday to pick the team for the first Test, watching RP bowl against North Zone and end with figures five for 36 from 7.1 overs was heartening. The swing bowler, who opened the spell for Central Zone with all-rounder Praveen Kumar, got the first four North Zone batsmen — including Gautam Gambhir and Akash Chopra for duck.

Singh appeared at ease, stuck to a an off-stump line and had batsmen edging repeatedly to the wicketkeeper or to gully with some excellent swing bowling. His other victims were Rajat Bhatia, Shikhar Dhawan and Pradeep Sangwan, and he was instumental in Central Zone winning the match despite Virender Sehwag’s 73-ball 81.

Brief scores: Central 293 for 3 in 50 overs: Ojha110, Fazal 66 vs North Zone 223 all out in 42.2 overs Sehwag 81, Kaul 55, Amit Mishra 43, R P Singh 5/36, Sandeep Singh 2/43.

West Zone by six wickets

Hyderabad: Opener Wasim Jaffer scored a 43-ball 48, aided by 10 fours, to help guide the West Zone to a six-wicket win against the East Zone in the Deodhar Trophy here. Jaffer, struggling to find form but retained in the Test squad for the upcoming series against South Africa, helped stabilise the West’s innings after the side’s shaky start.West Zone chased the target of...