Vijayawada: Openers Vikram Rathod (143) and Akash Chopra (110) notched up impressive centuries and added 237 runs for the opening wicket to power North Zone to a sound position at 336 for three against South Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy cricket league tie here on Thursday.Rathod added a further 88 runs for the third wicket with his Punjab teammate Dinesh Mongia (60 batting) as the South Zone bowlers were made to suffer by the free scoring North Zone batsmen, who fully utilised the batsman-friendly strip after their skipper Rathod opted to bat first on winning the toss.Left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju, who was the only bowler to command some respect from the rival batsmen, was the most successful bowler claiming two wickets for 86 runs, while medium pacer Dodda Ganesh took the other wicket, which fell.At draw of stumps, Mongia and Virender Sehwag (four) were at the crease.Rathod batted through the three sessions of the day striking 16 boundaries and a huge six off Sunil Joshi. He was out at the fag end of the day when he tried to drive Ganesh only to be caught off the inside edge by wicket-keeper Thilak Nadu.UNI
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