As expected, West Zone breezed into the final of the Duleep Trophy on the basis of a huge 475-run first innings lead after their semi-final against North Zone ended in a tame draw in Rajkot on Friday.
Resuming at the overnight score of 56 for 1, West Zone declared their second innings at 345 for 7, a few overs before the start of the mandatory overs.
The highlight of the day was centuries by Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma. The duo, who got together after the quick dismissal of Parthiv Patel (31) and skipper Wasim Jaffer (6) in the morning, added 172 runs for the fourth wicket.
Pujara, promoted to open the innings, scored 110 runs from 171 balls, inclusive of 16 fours. Sharma was more aggressive of the two, scoring 116 runs off 129 balls. His knock was studded with five sixes and 11 fours.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, too, chipped in with a useful knock of 56.
For North Zone, Vikas Mishra was the pick off the bowlers with figures of 4-96, while Parvindar Awana, Rajat Bhatia and Ravi Inder Singh shared a wicket each.
After amassing a mammoth 769 runs in the first innings, West Zone bundled out the visitors for 294. However, they chose not to enforce the follow-on and opted for batting practice instead.
Scorecard
West Zone (1st innings): 769
North Zone (1st innings): 294
West Zone (2nd innings): (overnight 56 for 1)
Cheteshwar Pujara c R Deewan b R Singh 110
Ajinkya Rahane bowled P Awana 0
Parthiv Patel c U Kaul b R Bhatia 31
Wasim Jaffer b V Mishra 6
Rohit Sharma c P Dogra (Sub) b V Mishra 116
Ravindra Jadeja c R Deewan b V Mishra 56
Irfan Pathan c R Deewan b V Mishra 0
Abhishek Nayar Not Out 17
Dhaval Kulkarni Not Out 1
Extras: (B-2, LB-1, W-1, NB-4) 8
Total: (For 7 wickets in 89 overs) 345
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-56, 3-80, 4-252, 5-311, 6-311, 7-336.
Bowling: Parvindar Awana 8-3-23-1, Vikramjeet Malik 4.1-1-13-0, Virat Kohli 2-0-17-0, Vikas Mishra 26.5-2-96-4, Rahul Deewan 21-3-114-0, Rajat Bhatia 8-3-7-1, Mithun Manhas 4-1-13-0, Ravi Inder Singh 14-0-58-1, Shikhar Dhawan 1-0-1-0.
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