With the help of a fighting 79 by opener Arvind Maan and an unbeaten 60 by Gaurav Tikkas later in the day, Central Zone struggled to 241/9 at close of play against East Zone in their Vijay Hazare Trophy Under-16 semifinal at the RSI grounds in Bangalore on Sunday.

The day started on a bad note for Central Zone as play started an hour late due to the non-availability of a sight screen and then they lost the toss. Put into bat, openers Arvind Maan and Shivakanth Shukla (35) added a slow 65 runs in 26.5 overs. Shukla was the first to be dismissed, bowled by Arshad Iqbal. Thereafter, Iqbal trapped Ali Akbar (4) in the 29th over. Skipper Tahir Abbas (11) hung around for 27 minutes as the score proceeded to 87 before he was run out. All along it was Arvind Maan who did the bulk of the scoring and reached his fifty off the 147th ball he faced. A Alam was the next to be sent back, bowled by B Mohanty.

After battling for 242 minutes, Maan was run out. During his stay he faced 203 balls and hit 11 fours. Then Rahat Ilahi (30) and Gaurav Tikkas forged a 51 run partnership for the fifth wicket. Rakesh Mohanty bowled Ilahi in the 66th over of the innings after which Tikkas progressed to his fifty with the help of 84 balls. Though Tikkas kept one end intact, he lost partners at regular intervals. Devendra Singh then accompanied Tikkas to stumps. Arshad Iqbal was the pick of the East Zone attack with figures of 4 for 36.

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