Ashish Nehra is one of the finest fast bowlers in the land, and he proved it yet again in North Zone's four-day Duleep Trophy encounter against the South at the Nahar Singh Stadium, New Delhi.

The Delhi left-arm quick's 5-46 was instrumental in South being dismissed for a paltry 168 after they had elected to bat. North further consolidated the advantage when their batsmen made an impressive 96 for one in reply before stumps were drawn.

In the morning, Nehra initiated South's batting collapse by claiming opener Sadagoppan Ramesh for no score. It was all downhill from there for the visitors, a 82-run fourth-wicket stand between D Vinay Kumar (49) and former India player Vijay Bharadwaj (64), saving them from a total rout. Except for Sridharan Sriram (10), all the other batsmen, including Hemang Badani (4), were dismissed for single-digit scores.

Nehra, who bowled admirably, was the pick of the North bowlers, claiming yet another five-wicket haul. Left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi, for his part, chipped in with four wickets.

The home team's reply got off to a promising start, Akash Chopra and Vikram Rathore adding 68 for the first wicket before Chopra (37) was bowled by Suresh Kumar. Rathore (39*) and Yuvraj Singh (18*) with a 28-run stand for the second wicket, however, ensured that North could begin day two on a commanding note.

© CricInfo