North and South Zone declared joint winners of Duleep Trophy

With unrelenting bad weather playing spoilsport, North Zone and South Zone were declared joint winners of the Duleep Trophy this year after the fifth day`s play of the final match was also called off without a ball being bowled on Monday.

Kochi: With unrelenting bad weather playing spoilsport, North Zone and South Zone were declared joint winners of the Duleep Trophy this year after the fifth day`s play of the final match was also called off without a ball being bowled here on Monday.

Only 10 overs -- on the second day on October 18 -- were possible in the five-day match as wet ground conditions at the Nehru Stadium due to persistent rain played spoilsport. The city again experienced a morning shower and the umpires decided for a delayed start of the final day. The umpires inspected the ground at around 2:45pm and decided to call off the match. It was the fourth instance in the history of Duleep Trophy when the title has been shared. Previous instances were West Zone/South Zone in 1963-64), North Zone/West Zone in 1988-89 and Central Zone/West Zone in 1997-98. The tournament had been hit by bad weather as the winner of the first semifinal here was also decided by the toss of coins after wet outfield did not even allow for a first innings lead. North had reached the finals after calling the coin correctly in the first semifinal.