Duleep Trophy: Gaikwad shines with explosive century, Iyer, Jaiswal flop

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 4 (ANI): Indian opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, yet to make a Test appearance for India, scored his eighth first-class century, while star batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer flopped on their domestic cricket return during West Zone's Duleep Trophy semifinal match against Central Zone in Bengaluru on Thursday.

At the end of the day one of the match, West Zone was at 363/6, with Tanush Kotian (65) and skipper Shardul Thakur (24*) unbeaten.

West Zone won the toss and elected to bat first. However, they lost openers Jaiswal (4) and Harvik Desai (1) within the space of 10 runs. Aarya Desai (39 in 84 balls, with six fours) put on an 82-run stand for the third wicket.

Shreyas Iyer (25 in 28 balls, with four boundaries) got a promising start and a 45-run stand with Gaikwad, but he was clean bowled by Khaleel Ahmed (2/70). At one point, West Zone was five down for 179 runs.

It was a 158-run stand for the sixth wicket between Gaikwad (184 in 206 balls, with 25 fours and a six) and Kotian (65* in 121 balls, with five fours) which brought back West Zone to life and they ended the day scoring in excess of 350 runs, with Saransh Jain (2/109) cleaning up Gaikwad and making him miss a double ton.

In another semifinal match taking place between South Zone and North Zone, Tamil Nadu stalwart Narayan Jagadeesan, selected as a back-up wicketkeeper-batter for India's recently-concluded tour to England, shined with an unbeaten century.

North Zone won the toss and put South to batting first. A 103-run stand between Tanmay Agarwal (43 in 99 balls, with five fours) and Narayan kickstarted things off for South Zone. It was followed by an even better 128-run stand for the second wicket between Narayan and Devdutt Padikkal (57 in 71 balls, with seven fours). Narayan stayed unbeaten at 148* in 260 balls, with 13 fours and two sixes, supported by skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen (11*) at the other end as South Zone ended their day at 297/3. (ANI)

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