On the second day of West Zone’s Duleep Trophy match against North East on Friday, Ajinkya Rahane had enough of opportunities to practice on the center wicket as he prepared for his comeback.
The former skipper of India scored 207 batting on return as his team surged to 590-2 while he was sidelined since the IPL due to injury.
As North East embarked on a leather hunt, openers Prithvi Shaw (113, 11×4, 5×6) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (228, 22×4, 3×6) were also having a good time. West had 206 on the board when Rahane entered the game. The next partnership between Rahane and Yashasvi produced 333 runs for the second wicket. The bowling of Ankur Malik, a leg-spinner, particularly appealed to both players. Rahane amassed 68 runs, compared to Yashasvi’s 57 off 228 runs in the leggie’s bowling.
In the second session, Rahane increased his 100 off 135 balls and kept the pace going even after hitting the three-figure mark. When Yashasvi was caught by Bishworjit off Jonathan, his 321-ball innings, which included his first double century, came to an end.
Rahane could benefit from his time spent at the goal line moving ahead in the season. In 123 overs, West Zone scored 590-2. (Prithvi Shaw 113, Yashasvi Jaiswal 228, Ajinkya Rahane 207 batting, Rahul Tripathi 25 batting;Jonathan 1-68). East Zone defeats North with the aid of Virat Ton’s 397:
In the other quarterfinal, after East Zone had scored 397 in their first innings in Puducherry, teenage Yash Dhull (35 not out) and Manan Vohra (20 not out) led a powerful North Zone response, cruising to 65 for no loss. After resuming at their overnight total of 179 for three, East Zone reached a respectable first-innings total thanks to a superb century by Virat Singh (117) and a 62 by all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed.
