A defiant 160 by Central Zone skipper Mohd Kaif could not help his side to take all important first innings lead over West Zone in Duleep Trophy as the former were bundled out at 384, 27 runs short of West Zone 411.

Resuming at their overnight score of 237 for five, the Central Zone skipper tried hard to decrease the deficit despite losing his overnight partner Mahesh Rawat with the team’s total reading 268 for six.

Rawat spent 192 minutes at the crease and faced 152 balls, hitting eight fours. Kaif, who completed his century off 190 balls, got useful support from S S Sanyal. The two added 51 runs for the seventh wicket but with Sanyal and Kaif departing, Central’s hopes evaporated.

Score board

WEST ZONE (I Innings): 411
CENTRAL ZONE (I Innings, O/n: 237/5): V Saxena c P Patel b M Patel 2, T Srivastava c Rahane b Trivedi 12, J Saxena lbw Dhurv 46, M Kaif c Dhurv b Trivedi 160, H Rawle c P Patel b M Patel 3, S Bangar c P Patel b Dhurv 26, M Rawat c Pathan b Jobanputra 48, S Sanyal st P Patel b Dhurv 31, M Kartik lbw Dhurv 19, S Mathur (not out) 10, S Tyagi b M Patel 12. Extras (B-4, LB-3, W-1, NB-7) 15. Total (all out; 126 overs) 384.
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Saxena) 2-49 (Srivastava) 3-73 (JS Saxena), 4-91 (Rawle), 5-134 (Bangar), 6-268 (Rawat), 7-319 (Sanyal), 8-357 (Kartik), 9-362 (Kaif).
Bowling: Munaf Patel 29-6-90-3, Sandeep Jobanputra 24-6-69-1, Siddarth Trivedi 27-5-88-2, Rakesh Dhurv 33-12-84-4, Ramesh Powar 12-2-40-0, Yusuf Pathan 1-0-6-0.
WEST ZONE (II Innings): S Kukreja (batting) 40, A Rahane (batting) 53. Extras (B-1, W-1, NB-4) 6. Total ( for no loss, 36 overs) 99.
Bowling: Bangar 11-5-24-0, Sanyal 7-0-35-0, Kartik 15-5-31-0, Mathur 3-0-8-0.