The Hindu : Sport : Nine-wkt. win for West

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 25, 2005

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Sport

Nine-wkt. win for West

By Our Special Correspondent

CAUGHT SHORT: South Zone's Vinay Kumar is run out off a direct hit by Ajit Agarkar. Parthiv Patel is the wicketkeeper.

HYDERABAD, FEB. 24. Opener Satyajit Parab scored an unbeaten century and added 147 runs with Irfan Pathan in an unfinished second wicket stand to guide West Zone to a comfortable nine-wicket victory over South Zone on the third day of the four-day Duleep Trophy cricket match at the Visaka stadium in Uppal here today.

The victory gave West Zone four points from this match.

Parab dominated the South bowling and played some sparkling shots. He displayed commendable composure and impeccable shot selection while compiling 106 off 150 balls with the help of 17 boundaries. Neither the pace of Balaji nor the spin of Kumble troubled him

Irfan plays his part

At the other end he found an able partner in Irfan Pathan who was promoted in the batting order after Wasim Jaffer was dismissed. Irfan justified the faith that his skipper had placed upon him and shouldered the responsibility without flinching. inally he finished the match in grand style with a huge six off Venugopala Rao.

Sedate start

This morning South resuming its second innings at 141 for five made a sedate start as Venugopala Rao and Dinesh Kaarthick decided to play safely and sensibly. Venugopala Rao became the first batsman to record a half century in this match when he deflected a ball from Agarkar to the fine-leg boundary.

But Agarkar broke the stand when he spreadeagled Kaarthick's stumps with a vicious off-cutter and then he got Kumble to edge a rising delivery into the gloves of Parthiv Patel.

After lunch the wickets tumbled and Venugopala Rao, finding himself running out of partners, decided to hit out. He succeeded in lofting Rajesh Pawar for a huge six to the sightscreen. But off the very next ball, while attempting to repeat the shot, he missed the line and was stumped. His 79 had seven fours and one six and came off 181 balls. South was all out 28 minutes after lunch, setting West a target of 222 runs in a minimum of 48 overs.

West decided to go for the target in an aggressive manner and both openers began playing heir shots from the very first over. But Parab had a lucky escape when he flashed at a rising ball from Balaji and the chance went over the outstretched hands of Dravid at first slip. He was then on 24. Thereafter he seemed to realise the difference between reckless hitting and controlled aggression and wisely opted for the second approach.

From then onwards it was a feast for the huge crowd as Parab displayed delectable skills.

The scores:

South Zone — 1st innings: 187

West Zone — 1st innings: 207

South Zone — 2nd innings: R. Uthappa c Jaffer b Pathan 40, R. Barrington lbw b Pathan 11, V.V.S. Laxman b Zaheer 13, R. Dravid c Neeraj Patel b Powar 5, S. Sriram c Parthiv b Pawar 23, Y. Venugopala Rao st. Parthiv b Pawar 79, D. Karthik b Agarkar 20, A. Kumble c Parthiv b Agarkar 5, L. Balaji c Parthiv b Powar 21, R. Vinay Kumar (run out) 0, R. Jesuraj (not out) 1, Extras (b-6, nb-17): 23. Total (in 83.3 overs ): 241.

Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-58, 3-69, 4-78, 5-132, 6-184, 7-194, 8-228, 9-228.

West Zone bowling: Agarkar 20-5-58-2, Pathan 17-1-58-2, Zaheer Khan 14-0-38-1, Powar 20-2-46-2, Pawar 11.3-3-33-2, Tendulkar 1-0-2-0.

West Zone — 2nd innings: S. Parab (not out) 106, W. Jaffer c Laxman b Kumble 28, I. Pathan (not out) 61, Extras (b-12, lb-7, nb-9) 28. Total (for one wkt. in 49.1 overs): 223.

Fall of wicket: 1-76.

South Zone bowling: Balaji 12-2-53-0, Vinay Kumar 10-0-58-0, Jesuraj 8-1-33-0, Kumble 15-3-40-1, Sriram 2-0-9-0, Venugopala Rao 2.1-0-11-0.

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