R Ashwin spun South Zone back in contention with his six-wicket haul against Central Zone on Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy semifinal.

Resuming the day at 254 for eight, South were all out for 295, conceding a 38-run lead but Ashwin changed the complexion of the game after that.

He ran through the middle-order of rivals in their second essay and all Central Zone could manage was 252 on board, setting South a 291-run victory target.

South were 57 for one at stumps on penultimate day and would fancy their chances of reaching the summit clash.

Abhinav Mukund (11) and Arun Karthik (33) were the crease after dismissal of dangerous Robin Uthappa (13), who became RP Singh's victim.

Earlier, South added 39 runs to their overnight total with the last wicket pair of Abhimanyu Mithun (20) and Shadab Jakati (16 not out) contributing vital 37 runs.

R Vinay Kumar gave a splendid start to South as he removed Jalaj Saxena (3) and Sanjay Bangar (2) inside first five overs.

Mithun accounted for rival skipper Mohd Kaif (14) a few overs later and it was Ashwin all over after that.

He took wicket after wicket to end with excellent figures of six for 67 in 19 overs.

Had it not been for Suresh Raina (59) and Piyush Chawla (56), Central Zone would have folded earlier.

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