KL Rahul provided viewers with a fresh reminder of why he makes connoisseurs and laymen sit up in rapt attention when he bats, giving South Zone control of the Duleep Trophy final against Central Zone with his highest first-class score on Thursday (October 30).
Rahul stroked and caressed his way to 168 not out at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi as South ended the second day’s play on 308 for 4 in 69 overs, leading Central by 32 runs with three days remaining. Keeping Rahul company was Hanuma Vihari, unbeaten on a 48-ball 38 when bad light forced the umpires to call off play early.
Rahul, 22, whose previous highest first-class score was 158, scored at a brisk clip batting through most of the day, blunting Central’s bowlers for 205 deliveries to put his side in a position from which they can hope to call the shots emphatically.
Central, resuming on 237 for 7, added 39 runs in the morning with the tail lasting 13 overs, before being bowled out for 276 in 100 overs. R Vinay Kumar, the South captain, got the key scalp of Arindam Ghosh, the most pedigreed batsman Central still left, in the day’s third over without Ghosh having added to his overnight 32. Pragyan Ojha and Abhimanyu Mithun accounted for the remaining two wickets.
That the total was inadequate was apparent from South’s opening stand, with both Robin Uthappa and Rahul scoring freely. The duo has batted plenty of times together for Karnataka and South Zone, and put the Central bowlers to the sword in a 168-run stand that came off only 34.2 overs.
Rahul was the initial aggressor, raising a half-century off 57 balls even as Uthappa provided solid support at the other end, putting away bad balls but more watchful at the start. Once he had found his bearings, Uthappa wasn’t kept quiet for too long, and started opening up when Piyush Chawla, the Central captain, came into the attack. A flurry of boundaries took Uthappa to his own half-century, the landmark coming off 83 balls, and after that, the senior man cut loose.
Chawla was carted for two sixes and a four, before Jalaj Saxena made a much needed breakthrough for Central, trapping Uthappa in front for a 97-ball 80.
Uthappa’s dismissal didn’t affect Rahul, who moved to 99 with a six off Chawla and brought up his century off the next ball with a single to long-on. The bowlers could never tie Rahul down for any significant period, with quiet overs invariably followed by a couple of boundaries that kept the scoreboard ticking over at a better-than-healthy rate.
The only time Central looked like they could get a toehold was courtesy a triple-wicket burst by Pankaj Singh, who castled both Baba Aparajith and Dinesh Karthik in his 14th over, and then came back in his next to get rid of R Prasanna, leaving South 233 for 4.
However, Vihari proved to be an able ally for Rahul, the two putting on an unbroken 75 runs till the close.
Rahul, who has five first-class centuries, admitted after the end of play that he would be pleased with an elusive double-century, and wanted to make up for scoring only 21 in South’s semifinal win over East Zone in Lahli.
“The wicket was really easy-paced, even though the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat that much. This is a fast outfield,” he said. “Playing the previous game in Lahli, I stuck around for one and a half hours, got 20-odd runs and got out, so I wanted to make some runs this time. It’s still an even game, so we have to get as many as possible tomorrow.
“I spoke to my trainer before the season started and said I get tired when I get into the 130s and 140s, so I’ve worked really hard on my fitness and hopefully I can go on to make a double hundred. I got a lot of starts last year, and couldn’t capitalise. This year my idea is to look to convert all those starts and get more runs.”
Brief scores: Central Zone 276 all out in 100 overs (Faiz Fazal 49, Robin Bist 79, Ashok Menaria 37, Arindam Ghosh 32, Piyush Chawla 30; R Vinay Kumar 2-54, Pragyan Ojha 2-49, Baba Aparajith 2-26) v South Zone 308/4 in 69 overs (Robin Uthappa 80, KL Rahul 168 n.o., G Hanuma Vihari 38 n.o.; Pankaj Singh 3-55).
Classy Rahul powers South with big ton
