Ruthless West get off the blocks in style

A commercial for a shoe brand featuring Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney blared on the television screen below the players dressing rooms just as Rohit Sharma....

A commercial for a shoe brand featuring Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney blared on the television screen below the players dressing rooms just as Rohit Sharma walked in to bat at the Madhavrao Scindia cricket ground for West Zone in the Duleep Trophy. As Sharma marked his guard,the voiceover in the advert articulated how the zone a time of complete concentration is achieved through patience and perseverance by only a few sportsmen worldwide. Leaning into a crisp cover drive by the time the 30 second commercial ended,Sharma had already switched on and entered deep into the hypothetical area.

Often drawing parallels to past and present greats from Mumbai,Sharma looked every bit as invincible as his predecessors during his 93-ball 63 on Day One of the semi-final clash against North Zone in Rajkot. Like poetry at 24 frames per second,the crowd witnessed Sharma in full flow,constructing the innings almost by instinct,before he put on display his other remarkable feature the ability step out of the zone as quickly as he gets into it as he threw away a start and fell to a soft dismissal.

On the other hand,Mumbai team mate Abhishek Nayar put a price on his wicket and built on Sharmas foundation. By stumps,a scratchy Nayar had raced away to an unbeaten 102 which included three sixes and 15 fours in his unorthodox manner,powering West Zone to an imposing 425 for five in 90 overs. Sharma and Nayar were ably assisted by local favourite Ravindra Jadeja 55 not out,Cheteshwar Pujara 77 and Parthiv Patel 55 who all added to North Zones miseries as the days honours clearly belonged to the home side.

West Zone skipper Wasim Jaffer elected to bat first after winning the toss and along with fellow Mumbai opener Ajinkya Rahane,got things underway. Head low and on his knees,Jaffer drove Himachals Vikramjeet Malik to the boundary to put up his first runs on the board. But Jaffers poor form continued as Malik got one to jag back in,trapping the skipper in front for 12. Rahane looked comfortable at the other end before he edged Parvinder Awana to wicketkeeper Uday Kaul for 34. Virat Kohlis North Zone had the home side in some trouble at 55 for two in 12 overs,but as things panned out,the two openers were to be the only batsmen not to get past 50.

Having found a thick vein of form over the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy season with 727 runs,Parthiv made Kohlis life miserable by taking his bowlers to the cleaners,while Pujara played the anchor role to perfection. The Patel blitzkrieg came to an end two balls before lunch,as he was dismissed by Manpreet Singh Gony on 55.

Sharma went into his flawless bubble immediately after the break as Pujara too opened up his shoulders to join the West Zone party. With his left leg at right angles to the rest of his body during the final moments of its execution,Pujara slashed his unique square-drive to the boundary,regardless of the strong off-side field. This shot paid rich dividends for the batsman,and Pujara brought up the teams 200 in the 42nd over. At the other end,Sharma pulled,cut,drove,flicked,jabbed and scooped with utter ease before he dragged Mishra on to his stumps. Soon after,Pujara did the same.

However,Nayar and Jadeja were in no mood to give away the advantage,propelling their team past 400 in the 79th over. Soon after the new ball was taken,Nayar brought up his century while Jadeja went past 50.

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Brief scores: West Zone 1st innings 425/5 in 90 overs Abhishek Nayar batting 102,Parthiv Patel 55,Cheteshwar Pujara 77,Rohit Sharma 63,Ravindra Jadeja batting 55; Rajat Bhatia 1/36 vs North Zone

Central ride on Kaif ton

Indore: Central Zone captain Mohammad Kaif scored a gritty ton to rescue his team on Day One against South Zone on Tuesday. Asked to bat first,Central had lost six wickets with only 126 on board. Kaif before being dismissed,put on 118 runs for the seventh wicket with Piyush Chawla. At stumps Central were 300 for 7,with Chawla unbeaten on 70.

Brief scores: Central Zone 1st innings 300/7 Mohammad Kaif 112,Piyush Chawla batting 70; Abhimanyu Mithun 3/44,R Vinay Kumar 2/89 vs South Zone