Jaffer slams second
successive 100
A second century by Wasim Jaffer in as many innings and fine bowling performances by medium pacer Irfan Pathan (4/74) and spinners Ramesh Powar (3/92) and
Sairaj Bahutule (3/18), helped West Zone take a huge 175-run
first innings lead over Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy cricket
league match in Rajkot on Thursday.
Powered by an unbeaten 103 (10x4, 1x6, 165 b) by opener Jaffer, West reached 213 for three in their second innings.
Altaf Merchant was the other not out batsman, on 15, at
stumps on the third day.
Central, resuming at their overnight score of 154 for
four, lost wickets at regular intervals. First to go was
Railway's Kulmani Parida, who was batting on eight last
evening, caught by Merchant off Powar for 11.
Skipper Gagan Khoda, who had batted beautifully for his
unbeaten 76, could add just seven more runs today when he was
adjudged leg before wicket to Pathan for 83. Khoda hit 13
fours in his 146-ball knock.
Though J P Yadav made a fighting 61 not out off 72 balls,
with ten fours, there was no support from the other end, with R
Jalani (5), Harvinder Singh (1), S Srivastav (1) and Narendra
Hirwani (0) getting out cheaply.
West's second innings started on a bright note when Jaffer
and Connor Williams (39, 5x4) added 72 runs. Jaffer and
skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (40) then added 111 for the second
wicket to pile up Central's agony.
Yuvraj's double ton puts it beyond South
North Zone posted a mammoth 558 for nine before declaring their first innings in their Duleep
Trophy league match against South Zone in Faridabad on Thursday.
At close on day three, South were 126 for one, with
Sridharan Sriram batting on 64, accompanied by D Vinay Kumar,
on 23.
The visitors lost Sadagoppan Ramesh for 31 and still need
265 more runs to avoid an innings defeat with one full day's play
to go.
Resuming from their overnight score of 387 for three,
North progressed steadily. Yuvraj Singh, who was selected for
the third and fourth one-day internationals against Zimbabwe
yesterday, played the pivotal role to perfection.
He converted his overnight century into a double hundred
before being falling to the part-time off-spin of Ramesh.
His 209, which came off 371 balls, contained 28 boundaries
while three other hits sailed over the ropes.
Shafiq Khan, the othernight batsman (60, 89b, 8x4, 2x6),
and wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya (53 n.o., 78b, 5x4, 1x6)
compounded South's misery with their cavalier batting.
South began their second essay in positive manner, with
Ramesh scoring seven spanking boundaries but that was shortlived
as he was caught behind off Ashish Nehra.
Mail Cricket Editor
