Yashasvi Jaiswal’s double ton has put West Zone in a commanding position and are much ahead of South Zone over grabbing the Duleep Trophy. Moreover, the West Zone bowlers have confirmed that the fifth day of play would be little more than just a formality.
R. Sai Kishore and T Ravi Teja saw off the fading light but, with 375 runs needed on the final day. Moreover, chasing a mammoth 529, the South Zone batting line-up, filled with India internationals, failed to put on their A game on the occasion on Saturday at the SNR College Cricket Ground in Coimbatore.
Mayank Agarwal hurriedly closed the face of the bat to a good-length ball and got a leading edge to short-cover, on the other hand, Tanush Kotian took a brilliant catch diving forward.
The South Zone had all its hopes on first-innings centurion Baba Indrajith but met with disappointment when he drove a half-volley straight to point to give Sheth his second. South Zone lost half its side when Mulani drew Ricky Bhui’s outside edge, with Rahane diving low to his right at first slip to complete the dismissal.
West Zone lead by the experienced international Ajinkya Rahane declared the innings at 585/4. Set a target of 529 runs to South Zone. West Zone scored 270 runs in the first innings. South Zone team was all out on the score of 327 runs. For West Zone, Jaydev Unadkat took 4 and Atit Sheth took 3 wickets. Apart from this, Chintan Gaja took 2 wickets and Tanush Kotian took 1 wicket.
