Published: Oct 16, 2014, 06:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 16, 2014, 06:30 PM (IST)
Oct 16, 2014
Ankit Bawne‘s elegant hundred (105) and Yusuf Pathan‘s 73 ball 73 rescued West Zone from disastrous position of 47 for four to 321 for nine at the end of second day of the Duleep Trophy quarter-final at Rohtak. They have a crucial lead of 43 runs with one wicket still in hand. Earlier on day one, East Zone made 278 in their first innings.
West Zone made a bad start of the day in the seaming conditions of Rohtak. They lost four early wickets, including their in-form captain Cheteshwar Pujara who came out to bat at number three. When Vijay Zol was got out for 17 of 73 balls, West Zone were tottering at 47 for four, struggling hard to save the follow on.
From that position Bawne and Surya Kumar Yadav took over. They safely took West Zone past the follow on mark. Later Pathan played an counter attacking knock which put East Zone bowlers under huge pressure. The Maharashtra batsman, Bawne got a lucky break, when East Zone captain Manoj Tiwary dropped him in the third slip early in his innings and made the full use of it. For East Zone Rana Dutta was the most successful bowler. He took five wickets for 60 runs.
The first hour of the third day will be crucial for both the teams. For West Zone, 50-60 runs lead will be crucial. Whereas East Zone need to bat exceptionally well to give Pujara’s team a competitive target in the second innings.
Brief scores:
East Zone 278 all out (Manoj Tiwary 105, Laxmi Ratan Shukla 54) trial West Zone 321 for 9 (Ankit Bawne 105, Yusuf Pathan 73; Rana Dutta 5 for 60) by 43 runs at the end of day two.
