Central Zone take honours against West Zone

Central Zone drew with West Zone in their Duleep Trophy match at the Vidarbha CA ground in Nagpur on Sunday. Sairaj Bahatule was the star of the day with 4/26 as he along with Valmik Buch (3/49) reduced Central to 156/8 in their second innings.

Resuming at 364/6 West were quickly bowled out for 421 in 154.4 overs. NK Patel who was unbeaten on 41 overnight made 64 before being dismissed by Sriwastava. Bahatule made 39 as the other batsmen fell cheaply. Sriwastava was the best of the bowlers picking up 4/62. Kanwat and RR Parida took 3 wickets each. Central having assured themselves a 115 runs first innings lead made a shaky start to their second innings. JP Yadav was the first batsman to be dismissed for just 3 runs by IR Siddiqui. Then Sairaj Bahatule and Valmik Buch ran through the Central innings. GK Khoda made 31 and R Ali made 55 with nine boundaries in the middle of the innings as Central declared at 156/8.

The West chase was never on as there was little time left in the match. In the 11 overs bowled before close of play, Central Zone reached 44 without loss. Central took five points and West took three out of the drawn match.