Talented Mumbai youngster Suryakumar Yadav hit a sparkling century under pressure to guide West Zone to a respectable 299 for seven in their Duleep Trophy match against East Zone here on Friday.
Coming in at No 6 with West reduced to 41 for four, Yadav took the East attack to the cleaners as he smashed a counter-attacking 134 off only 137 balls with the help of 23 boundaries and a six.
Along with captain Cheteshwar Pujara (55, 107 balls, 10x4), Yadav added 153 for the fifth wicket to get West back in the game after a top-order collapse in the first hour.
Bengal speedster Ashok Dinda (2/75) started the slide as he castled Harshad Khadiwale (1) in the fifth over of the day. Mumbai opener Kaustubh Pawar (9) struggled for 70 minutes.
SCORE BOARD
WEST ZONE (I Innings): Harshad Khadiwale b Dinda 1, Kaustabh Pawar c Goswami b Mohanty 9, Abhishek Nayar b Ahmed 14, Cheteshwar Pujara c & b Ahmed 55, Ambati Rayudu c Samantray b Ahmed 9, Suryakumar Yadav c Goswami b Nadeem 134, Rohit Motwani c Vardhan b Dinda 45, Akshay Darekar (batting) 23. Extras (LB-6, W-2, NB-1) 9. Total (for 7 wkts, 87.5 overs) 299.
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-20, 3-24, 4-41, 5-194, 6-233, 7-299.
Bowling: Ashoke Dinda 19.5-6-75-2, Basant Mohanty 22-12-39-1, Abu Nechim 16-6-56-3, Bilab Samantray 13-3-40-0, Shahbaz Nadeem 17-1-83-1.
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