CHENNAI: Ajinkya Rahane was looking for some centrewicket practice on his comeback trail and he got that aplenty on the second day of West Zone’s Duleep Trophy match against North East on Friday.
The former India captain, who was out of action since IPL due to an injury, scored 207 batting on return as his team raced away to 590-2.
North East, the Duleep Trophy debutants, didn’t have anything to challenge Rahane with their bowling attack and the Mumbai man raced away to his double century.
Also making merry were openers Prithvi Shaw (113, 11x4, 5x6) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (228, 22x4, 3x6), as North East went on a leather hunt. Rahane came in to bat when West already had 206 on board. The Rahane-Yashasvi partnership then yielded 333 runs for the second wicket. Both players took a special liking to leg-spinner Ankur Malik’s bowling. While Yashasvi scored 57 off his 228 runs in the leggie’s bowling, Rahane accrued 68.
Rahane raised his 100 off 135 balls in the second session and kept the tempo up even after reaching the three-figure mark. Yashasvi completed his maiden double hundred and his 321-ball knock concluded when he was caught by Bishworjit off Jonathan.
For Rahane, the time that he spent at the crease should stand him in good stead going forward in the season. Brief scores:West Zone 590-2 in 123 overs (Prithvi Shaw 113, Yashasvi Jaiswal 228, Ajinkya Rahane 207 batting, Rahul Tripathi 25 batting; Jonathan 1-68). Virat ton helps East Zone make 397 vs North:
In the other quarterfinal, young Yash Dhull (35 not out) and Manan Vohra (20 not out) led a strong North Zone reply, cruising to 65 for no loss after East Zone had posted 397 in their first innings in Puducherry. Resuming at their overnight score of 179 for three, East Zone rode on a fine century by Virat Singh (117) and a 62 by allrounder Shahbaz Ahmed to reach a decent first-innings total.
