North East, the Duleep Trophy debutants failed with their bowling attack as it was ineffective against Rahane, and the Mumbai player sped to his double century.
Ajinkya Rahane needed some center-wicket practice as he prepared for his comeback, and he had plenty of opportunities on Friday during the second day of West Zone’s Duleep Trophy match against North East. The former skipper of India scored 207 batting on return as his team sped to 590-2 while he was sidelined since the IPL owing to an injury.
Great Batting Skills from the West Zone
Opening pair Prithvi Shaw (113, 11×4, 5×6) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (228, 22×4, 3×6) were also having a good time as North East went looking for leather. West already had 206 runners when Rahane entered the game. 333 runs were subsequently scored for the second wicket thanks to the Rahane-Yashasvi partnership. Ankur Malik’s bowling, a leg-spinner, particularly appealed to both players. Rahane amassed 68 runs while Yashasvi amassed 57 from 228 runs bowled by the leggie.
Rahane increased his second-session score to 100 from 135 balls while maintaining a fast pace even after hitting the three-figure mark. When he was caught by Bishworjit off Jonathan, Yashasvi completed his first double century and his 321-ball inning came to an end.
Rahane’s time at the pitch could serve him well moving forward in the season. In 123 overs, West Zone scored 590-2.
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.
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