KL Rahul's unbeaten ton keeps South Zone in sight of Duleep Trophy win

KL Rahul

New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS) Opener Lokesh Rahul's unbeaten 121 put South Zone only 117 runs away from chasing 301 against Central Zone, on the fourth day of the Duleep Trophy cricket final at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Saturday.

The 22-year-old right-hander dominated the Central bowling to take his team to 184/1 after the opposition managed 403 in the second innings thanks to Robin Bist's unbeaten 112 and Ali Murtaza's 50.

But Rahul continued from where he left in his first innings score of 185 and made the target of 301 look very easy. He collected boundaries all over the park, dominating Ishwar Pandey with five fours within first two overs to make his intention clear. He made it a tough day for spin-trio Murtaza, Jalaj Saxena and Piyush Chawla. Barring pacer Pankaj Singh, all of them conceded runs at an economy rates of more than four.

His strike rate of 91.66 tells about his aggression as he faced only 132 balls, scoring 12 fours and five sixes. He forged a 96-run opening partnership with Robin Uthappa (30) and later his stand with Baba Aparajith (29) is yet to be over.

Earlier in the morning, overnight batsman Bist got it going with good support from left-hander Murtaza. Their 104-run stand for the seventh wicket came when the team lost Mahesh Rawat (16), Arindam Ghosh (22) and skipper Chawla (0).

While wicketkeeper-batsman Rawat was given leg before off Pragyan Ojha's bowling, Ghosh was found short of the batting crease off the same bowler.

Chawla stepped out of the crease to hit Aparajith but missed the ball before being stumped out by glovesman Dinesh Karthik, to leave the team in trouble with the team's lead reading 157/7.

Next man in Murtaza took his chances and the ploy paid off for him and with the support of a defiant Bist, the partnership flourished. Murtaza started the onslaught early, charging down the wicket to slap Ojha over the sightscreen and after some quiet moments, punished an erratic medium pacer R. Vinay Kumar for five shots to the fence and later turned the heat on Abhimanyu Mithun, who dismissed him when he edged it to the wicketkeeper.

Bist, who was doing his business with ones and twos, also drew strength from Murtaza's aggression and went for big shots.

He picked young Aparajith for special treatment, dispatching him for two sixes - one over the long on to reach fifty and the other - over the sightscreen in the very next over. Relying on his strong backfoot, he tucked the young offie to collect three boundaries towards mid-wicket. His supple wrist movement came to the fore when he scored regularly off medium pacer H.S. Sharath with elegant on-drive and regal flicks.

He completed his ninth first-class hundred with an expansive hit towards mid-on off Mithun bowling in the 163rd ball of his innings. He remained undefeated after scoring four sixes and eight fours as the rest of the batsman Ishwar (17) and Pankaj (6) lost their wickets in an effort to score quick runs.

Brief Scores: Central Zone 276 and 403 in 105.5 overs (Robin Bist 112 not out, Faiz Fazal 72, Jalaj Saxena 71; Shreyas Gopal 4/60, Pragyan Ojha 3/99). South Zone 379 and 184/1 in 44 overs (Lokesh Rahul 121 not out, Robin Uthappa 30, Baba Aparajith 29 not out; Piyush Chawla 1/51).