Ashish Nehra

Guwahati: Sourav Ganguly and East Zone’s hopes of playing the Duleep Trophy final at the Eden were dashed here on Tuesday. The former India captain lasted just 17 balls on the final morning before falling on his overnight score of 118.

The rest of the East batsmen failed to stand up to the challenge and expectedly folded up for 295, 59 runs adrift of the follow on target.

North made 504 in their first innings. The first-innings lead took the visitors to the final where they will take on Sri Lanka A.

Sourav’s next chance to impress the selectors will be Bengal’s opening Ranji Trophy match against Punjab in Mohali from November 23.

“We were at the wrong end having lost the toss on a track which had little for the bowlers. But then one has to adapt to the conditions whether with the ball or the wicket,” Sourav said.

Looking back, he will also rue the “temporary lapse in concentration”, as North’s 21-year-old wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat, who took a low catch to his left off allrounder Joginder Sharma, to dismiss Sourav. He was on the field for almost three days, either batting or fielding.

It was a different matter that North did not enforce the follow-on and instead utilised the remaining overs in getting some practice for its batsmen. North made 65 for one in 27 overs but hardly anybody was interested in the proceedings after the fall of Sourav.

With the heart and soul of the match gone, the tie petered to a yawning draw. The match was called off after tea due to bad light.

North, though, had a few positives from the match. In the final, they will be banking on Rawat, the hardhitting Yashpal Singh, spinner Rajesh Sharma and out-of-favour Gautam Gambhir and medium pacer Ashish Nehra, who took three wickets.

Then there will be VRV Singh, if he is not called for India duty.