Hundreds from Rajat Patidar and Yash Rathod headlined a dominant performance for Central Zone, who finished Day 2 on 384/5 in the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru.
With his 15th first-class hundred, and his second of this year’s Duleep Trophy, Patidar has sent a strong message to the selectors, who will be picking the squad in the coming weeks for the home series against the West Indies. Sarfaraz Khan is currently recovering from a quadriceps injury sustained during the Buchi Babu Trophy. Karun Nair, left out of the India A squad and the Duleep Trophy, is unlikely to retain his place, opening up a middle-order spot.
Patidar, who has played three Tests for India, has been in sublime form this year and could come into contention after missing out on the England tour. Since the start of the Duleep Trophy, he has recorded scores of 125 and 66 against North East Zone, 77 against West Zone, and 101 against South Zone.
On a pitch where South Zone were bundled out for 149 on Day 1, Patidar slammed a hundred off 113 balls with a strike rate in excess of 85. His partnership with Rathod was worth 167 runs.
The Central Zone skipper put on an exhibition of strokeplay, playing shots all around the ground. He received a reprieve on 44 and made South Zone pay for it. The 32-year-old found a perfect ally in Rathod, who remained unbeaten on 137. The left-handed batter matched Patidar shot for shot to reach the three-figure mark. After Patidar was dismissed, Saransh Jain, who took a five-wicket haul on Day 1, joined Rathod, and the pair added 118 runs for the sixth wicket to see the day out. Jain was batting on 47.
Earlier in the day, Central Zone openers Danish Malewar and Akshay Wadkar added only five runs to the team’s overnight total of 50. Vasuki Koushik castled Wadkar to draw first blood. Shubham Sharma followed soon after, dismissed by Gurjapneet Singh. Shortly after scoring a half-century, Malewar was also out.
The first hour and a half belonged to Gurjapneet and Koushik. They created chances, but after the first session, the pitch became slow and the South Zone bowlers failed to exert any real pressure.
Brief Scores: South Zone 149 (Tanmay Agarwal 31, Salman Nizar 24; Saransh Jain 5-49, Kumar Kartikeya 4-53) vs Central Zone 384/5 (Yash Rathod 137*, Rajat Patidar 101; Gurjapneet Singh 3-78, MD Nidheesh 1-38).
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