A sparkling century by allrounder Yusuf Pathan and useful fifties by openers helped West Zone pile up 349 for seven wickets against Central Zone on the opening day of their four day Duleep Trophy match in Rajkot on Saturday.
Pathan came to the crease when West Zone was struggling after losing its fourth wicket in the form of Rakesh Solanki (25) at 174. But the Baroda allrounder dominated Central Zone bowling attack during his 88 minute stay at the crease.
Pathan's electrifying century came off in just 51 balls in which he hit 12 fours and five towering sixes. He alongwith Cheteshwar Pujara added 136 runs for the fifth wicket in which Pathan's contribution was 107.
The much needed breakthrough was provided by S Sanyal, who got Pathan at long leg when the batsman went for a big hit.
Earlier, West Zone captain Parthiv Patel won the toss and decided to bat first.
Sahil Kukreja and Ajinkya Rahane gave decent start to West Zone notching up 124 runs for the opening wicket before both returned to pavilion in quick succesion.
Kukreja made 72 while Ajinkya scored 50. However West Zone middle order batsmen could not use the platform provided by the openers. Parthiv (3) and Solanki got out cheaply. Thereafter Pathan started dominating Central Zone bowling attack.
Rakesh Dhruv (21) and Sandeep Jobanputra (4) were at the crease at the draw of stumps.
For Central Zone, S Sanyal and Sanjay Bangar took three wickets each conceding 90 and 55 runs respectively.
