Pathan bowls West to
convincing victory
Magnificent bowling by Baroda paceman Irfan Pathan (6 for 72) helped West Zone record a convincing 161-
run victory over Central Zone on the last day of the Duleep
Trophy league cricket match in Rajkot on Friday.
After West declared their second innings closed at their
overnight score of 213 for two, Pathan and leg spinner
Sairaj Bahutule (3 for 67) ran through the Central batting like
hot knife through butter to reduce them to 227 all out, off 73.4
overs, in their second innings.
In fact, getting 389 runs for a win on the last day of the
four-day tie was never going to be easy for Central, especially
against some sustained accurate bowling by Pathan, Bahutule
and offie Ramesh Powar, who got the prize wicket of Central
skipper Gagan Khoda, who hit a well-made 56.
Despite a fighting unbeaten 115 off 162 balls by middle
order batsman Jayprakash Jadav, Central Zone fell short by 161
runs.
First to go in the morning was Jyoti Yadav, who was bowled
by Pathan for five. New man T P Singh did not last long and
was bowled by Pathan for six. Bahutule, from the other end, sent
back Yere Goud (14) and Raja Ali (7) in quick succession to
reduce Central to 60 for four.
However, Khoda (56, 112 balls, 4x4 3x6) and Yadav (115,
17x4 1x6) added 62 runs for the fifth wicket but Khoda's fall
saw yet another collapse with Rohit Jalani (6), K Parida (1),
Harvinder Singh (12), Salabh Srivastava (0) and Narendra
Hirwani (0) all getting out without major contributions
leaving Yadav unconquered at the end.
Sridharan Sharath salvages some pride for South
Sridharan Sharath hit a superb century to help South Zone redeem lost pride in the
Duleep Trophy league match against North Zone in Faridabad on Friday.
South, after collapsing to 168 in the first innings,
rediscovered their batting form to post 422 for six, and
thereby salvage a draw on the fourth and final day.
North's huge first innings lead of 390 posed no threat
to the visitors, as Sharath, first in the company of Hemang
Badani and then with captain M S K Prasad, guided them to
safety.
Indeed, the coming together of the South middle order was
in stark contrast to the previous essay when they dug their
own grave with indisciplined batting.
Sridharan Sriram (77), Vinay Kumar (76), Badani (59) and
Prasad (30) all played their supporting roles to perfection
while Sharath (102) produced some vintage batting.
Ashish Nehra, wrecker-in-chief in the first innings, was
once again the leading bowler with three for 93. He again claimed the crucial wicket of Sharath as he did in the first
innings but it came bit late in the day.
North earned five points from the drawn encounter while
South had to be content with three.
North take on West Zone in their match, starting at Pune
on March 19.
South, in the meantime, have a ten-day rest to regroup themselves and take on West on their home turf
on March 26.
Mail Cricket Editor
