Rahane century puts West Zone in control

Ajinkya Rahane attributes his powers of endurance to the four-hour journeys he spent in Mumbais local trains as a junior cricketer....

Ajinkya Rahane attributes his powers of endurance to the four-hour journeys he spent in Mumbais local trains as a junior cricketer. Compared to that,Rahanes ride on the slow-paced track at the MA Chidambaram Stadium seemed simple,as he scored an unbeaten 109 to take West Zone to a respectable 303 for five on the first day of their Duleep Trophy final against South.

The slow nature of the pitch ensured that Rahane started slowly.

South captain Subramaniam Badrinath had introduced off-spinner R Ashwin as early as the ninth over,and to add to his woes,pacer R Vinay Kumar trundled off the field with a strained side early in the piece.

Ashwin trapped Parthiv Patel in front of his stumps,breaking a solid opening stand,but that brought together two of the highest run-getters this year Jaffer and Rahane. The Mumbai skipper fell when he was looking good for a century,cleaned up by a straighter one from left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati on 69.

Cheteshwar Pujara fell soon after,but Rahane strung a crucial partnership with Bhavik Thakker,who played sensibly between constant bouts of aggression.

Badrinath took the new ball soon after Rahane brought up his ton,and after an almighty struggle through the day,Sreesanth managed to make an impact,getting Thakker to edge an outswinger to Dravid at slip,and then catching the shoulder of Abhishek Nayars bat in his next over.

Scoreboard

West Zone (1st inns): P Patel lbw b Ashwin 27,W Jaffer b Jakati 69,A Rahane not out 109,C Pujara lbw b Ashwin 14,B Thakker c Dravid b Sreesanth 73,A Nayar c Karthik b Sreesanth 0,S Trivedi not out 0

Extras (B-4,W-1,Nb-6) 11

Total (5 wickets; 92 overs) 303

FoW: 1-55,2-132,3-163,4-297,5-303

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Bowling: S Sreesanth 14.2-3-65-2,R Vinay Kumar 6.4-1-20-0,R Ashwin 28-5-78-2,M Suresh 17-4-56-0,S Jakati 21-4-66-1,S Badrinath 3-0-8-0,R Uthappa 2-1-6-0