Vikram Rathore hits double ton
Vikram Rathore hit his first double ton in the Duleep Trophy to put North Zone in the driver's seat
against East at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi on Wednesday.
North posted a mammoth 567 for 5 before declaring
their first innings to put the visitors under pressure.
At close on day two, East were 52 for no loss, with
debutant Parag Das on 33 and Devang Gandhi on 17 at the
crease.
It was a day of toil for East. Their bowling lacked teeth, and North faced little trouble as they moved
from one mark to another.
East now have to score 418 to avoid the follow-on.
Resuming at their overnight score of 250 for three, North
scored at a better rate than they did on Tuesday. Their 317
runs on Wednesday came in just 312 minutes.
They owed their comfortable position to the 184-run stand
for the fourth wicket between Rathore and Shafiq Khan.
While Rathore (249, 528m, 382b, 34x4, 1x6) went from one
milestone to another in style, Khan (73, 180m, 143b, 9x4)
displayed more attacking batsmanship.
Vijay Dahiya (76 not out) and Yashpal Singh (53 not out) continued
North's domination even after the dismissal of the two batsmen.
Vineet Sharma then peppered East's opening bat Gandhi with
some accurate short-pitched bowling. But Parag Das showed
flamboyance to deny North an early breakthrough.
Kanitkar leads by example
Hrishikesh Kanitkar led by example, guiding West Zone to 181 for three in reply to South's first
innings total of 292 all out, at close on the second day of
their four-day Duleep Trophy cricket league match in Chennai on Wednesday.
Kanitkar came in when the score was six for one, and after
West had lost both openers for just 34 runs. He put on a 100-
run partnership with S.Kotak for the third wicket and 47 runs
for the unbroken fourth wicket with Kaushik Aphale.
Kanitkar, who remained unbeaten on 102 (14x4, 1x6), did
not take risks and punished only the loose deliveries. He
reached his 50 with a cover drive, his seventh boundary.
Prasad then brought on Watekar, replacing left arm spinner
Sriram. Watekar dismissed Kotak in his second over of his
second spell, when the batsman played forward to a turning
delivery and edged to wicketkeeper Prasad. Kotak made 36 (4x4)
in 156 minutes off 106 balls.
He pulled Hemang Badani over midwicket fence to move from
90 to 96 and then twice swept him behind to reach his 100. His
50 came in 64 balls (7x4, 1x6).
Earlier, West medium pacers Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan
and spinners Sairaj Bahutule and Ramesh Powar claimed a wicket
each to skittle out South, who added 59 runs in 100 minutes of
play this morning.
Mail Cricket Editor
