COIMBATOR: West area closed in on a memorable win from behind as they knocked out the top and middle of the south zone after setting them an unlikely 529 win target in the Duleep Trophy Final Saturday.
Shaken at 156 for six at the stumps on the fourth and penultimate day, the South Zone looked a heavy loss as they trailed by 375 points.
The West Zone notched a mammoth 585 for four in its second inning after conceding a 57-point first-inning lead to its opponents.
Prolific goalscorer Sarfaraz Khan recorded a fine century unbeaten (127 from 178 balls) to continue West’s charge after the overnight Centurion double Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for 265 at SNR College Cricket Ground.
At the end of the third day of play, West Zone was 376 for three and Jaiswal batted 209 on 244 balls. Jaiswal started the day from where he started last night, adding seven more limits to the 23 he had hit by the end of day three play.
Jaiswal finally fell to off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham, having faced 330 deliveries on his monumental shot and added 164 runs with Sarfaraz for the fourth wicket.
There was no respite, however, for the Southern bowlers as Sarfaraz went about his task with consummate ease to swell his team’s overall lead and put them in a dominant position.
In all, Sarfaraz has found the fence 11 times and breached it twice, while assembling an unbroken 103-point partnership with Het Patel (51 not eliminated) to add to South Zone’s misery.
West skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s statement came after Sarfaraz ended his century on the Duleep Trophy debut. Patel, coming off an excellent 98 in the first inning, scored his runs quickly, facing just 61 throughs while hitting seven fours and a six.
At bat for five sessions, West left his opponents flat, and the southcourt team didn’t quite recover. This was evident by their second inning at bat as, with the exception of Rohan Kunnummal (93 on 100 balls), not all of the batters were up to the challenge.
Even as his colleagues left one after the other, Kunnummal was able to beat with ease for the points he scored with his team in an extremely difficult situation.
All of South Zone’s seasoned hitters have failed and fallen to the duo Atit Sheth and Jaydev Unadkatwho played very well and grabbed two wickets apiece.
Kunnummal fought a lonely battle, but he too fell at the end of the day, beaten by left-arm spinner Shams Mulani, who finished the day with numbers at 2/24 from seven overs.
The likes of skipper Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Baba Indrajith and Manish Pandey all failed to put up any semblance of a fight.
Short scores:
West Zone 270 and 585/4 declared in 128 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 265, Shreyas Iyer 71, Sarfaraz Khan 127; R Sai Kishore 2/157, K Gowtham 2/235).
South Zone 327 and 154/6 in 40 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 93; Jaydev Unadkat 2/26, Atit Sheth 2/29, Shams Mulani 2/24).
Shaken at 156 for six at the stumps on the fourth and penultimate day, the South Zone looked a heavy loss as they trailed by 375 points.
The West Zone notched a mammoth 585 for four in its second inning after conceding a 57-point first-inning lead to its opponents.
Prolific goalscorer Sarfaraz Khan recorded a fine century unbeaten (127 from 178 balls) to continue West’s charge after the overnight Centurion double Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for 265 at SNR College Cricket Ground.
At the end of the third day of play, West Zone was 376 for three and Jaiswal batted 209 on 244 balls. Jaiswal started the day from where he started last night, adding seven more limits to the 23 he had hit by the end of day three play.
Jaiswal finally fell to off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham, having faced 330 deliveries on his monumental shot and added 164 runs with Sarfaraz for the fourth wicket.
There was no respite, however, for the Southern bowlers as Sarfaraz went about his task with consummate ease to swell his team’s overall lead and put them in a dominant position.
In all, Sarfaraz has found the fence 11 times and breached it twice, while assembling an unbroken 103-point partnership with Het Patel (51 not eliminated) to add to South Zone’s misery.
West skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s statement came after Sarfaraz ended his century on the Duleep Trophy debut. Patel, coming off an excellent 98 in the first inning, scored his runs quickly, facing just 61 throughs while hitting seven fours and a six.
At bat for five sessions, West left his opponents flat, and the southcourt team didn’t quite recover. This was evident by their second inning at bat as, with the exception of Rohan Kunnummal (93 on 100 balls), not all of the batters were up to the challenge.
Even as his colleagues left one after the other, Kunnummal was able to beat with ease for the points he scored with his team in an extremely difficult situation.
All of South Zone’s seasoned hitters have failed and fallen to the duo Atit Sheth and Jaydev Unadkatwho played very well and grabbed two wickets apiece.
Kunnummal fought a lonely battle, but he too fell at the end of the day, beaten by left-arm spinner Shams Mulani, who finished the day with numbers at 2/24 from seven overs.
The likes of skipper Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Baba Indrajith and Manish Pandey all failed to put up any semblance of a fight.
Short scores:
West Zone 270 and 585/4 declared in 128 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 265, Shreyas Iyer 71, Sarfaraz Khan 127; R Sai Kishore 2/157, K Gowtham 2/235).
South Zone 327 and 154/6 in 40 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 93; Jaydev Unadkat 2/26, Atit Sheth 2/29, Shams Mulani 2/24).