Zaheer bagged six for 54 vs Central Zone

Aurangabad: Left-arm speedster Zaheer Khan ripped through the Central Zone batting line-up with a six-wicket haul and helped West take firm control on the first day of the Duleep Trophy league on Friday.

The Baroda paceman, ignored for the ongoing ODI series, had a rich haul in the previous league game as well.

The Central were 95 for one at one stage, but some excellent bowling by Zaheer bundled them for 206. The major contributions come from opener Amit Pagis (32), skipper Md Kaif (56), who batted at number three, Abbas Ali (45)

Zaheer finished with an impressive figure of six for 54.

In reply West were 104 for two after recovering from a precarious 38 for two. for two as they lost openers Dheeraj Jadhav and Satyajit Parab in quick successions.

An attractive unbeaten 58 from Wasim Jaffer and his unbeaten third wicket stand of 66 with Baroda’s Jacob Martin, who was 19 not out saw them through the day.

Brief scores

Central Zone 206 (Md Kaif 56, Abbas Ali 45; Zaheer Khan 6/54, Ramesh Powar 3/68) West Zone 104 (Wasim Jaffer 58). (PTI)

Mumbai report, picture on Page 10