Duleep Trophy final, Day 1: Het Patel's unbeaten 96 guides West Zone to 250 for 8 after Sai picks 3-wicket haul
India Today
Wicket-keeper Het Patel played a heroic knock to help West Zone recover from a batting collapse on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy final.
Wicket-keeper Het Patel joined hands with Jaydev Unadkat for an unbeaten 83-run ninth wicket stand to script West Zone's recovery after a batting collapse on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone.
After South Zone's Cheepurapalli Stephen, Basil Thampi uprooted the top-order batters, and Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore ran through West Zone's top and middle-order, Patel played a gutsy 96-run knock to help his team finish at 250/8 at stumps on Day 1. Unadkat (39*) also extended his stay in the middle.
After deciding to bat, West Zone, led by Ajinkya Rahane, lost their top three, including him, for just 16 runs. A 48-run stand between Sarfaraz Khan and Shreyas Iyer helped to calm the ship. Sai Kishore quickly uprooted the pair, though. WZ were were reduced to 101/6 when Patel and Atit Sheth contributed 63 runs. Then Patel led WZ and Unadkat past 200.
In the morning, Hanuma Vihari won the toss and wanted to make first use of whatever little help the conditions might offer. The Andhra left-arm seamer Stephen answered his captain's call as Jaiswal was left poking outside the off-stump and caught by keeper Ricky Bhui.
Rahane started with a boundary but old habits came to haunt him as Ravi Teja snapped one in the slip cordon when Kerala speedster Thampi got him to edge one behind the stumps. For right-hander Panchal, Stephen's delivery straightened a touch after pitching and had the India A captain plumb infront of the stumps.
Once it was 16 for 3, the Mumbai pair of Sarfaraz and Iyer came together and looked like resurrecting the innings with a 48-run stand. While Sarfaraz held one end up, Iyer played his strokes, which included four boundaries and a six.
It was Sai Kishore, who had Iyer caught by Indrajith just when the batter looked set and in an identical manner, got Sarfaraz when his 117-ball vigil ended. The Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner then rocked West with his third scalp as left-hander Mulani was trapped by a delivery that turned back a shade into him.
