Duleep Trophy 2022 Final: Het Patel and Co steady ship for West Zone after Sai Kishore runs riot, WZ- 250/8

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The Duleep Day 1 saw incredible fighting spirit from West Zone as they recovered well after a sloppy start as Het Patel turned out to be the unlikely hero. After being 16/3 at one stage the record champions ended the day at 250/8 and showed a good fight. Sai Kishore was the hero for the South Zone as he made good use of the conditions to scalp three wickets on the day as he ended with 80/3 while Het is still unbeaten on 96 and needs four more runs to bring his hundred.

West Zone make poor start

After winning the toss, West Zone made the worse possible start as they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal (1 off 8) in the second over. The matters were made even worse when skipper Ajinkya Rahane (8 off 16) was scalped by Basil Thampi for his first success of the day. Things went from bad to worse as Priyank Panchal (7off 9) also departed back to the pavilion as Cheepurapalli Stephen got the better of him.

Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan then steadied the ship before the former was scalped by Sai Kishore to break the 48-run stand. Shreyas departed for a well-made 37 off 63 deliveries. Iyer was Sai Kishore’s first success of the day as he would later scalp Sarfaraz Kahn as well on 34, both at the hands of Baba Indrajith.

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Het Patel take the initiative

After wickets were following at a consistent basis, it was Het Patel who took charge as West Zone was struggling at 101/6. Atit Sheth made a vital contribution to the team as he scored 25 off 70 before falling prey to Basil Tampi for his second.

Jaydev Unadkat then played a vital role as he and Het would put together an unbeaten stand of 83 runs for the ninth wicket. Unadkat is unbeaten on 39 while they try to achieve a respectable 300-run target on Day 2. Basil Thampi, and Cheepurapalli Stephen ended with two wickets a piece alongside Sai Kishore’s three. Krishnappa Gowtham had success in the form of Tanush Kotian as players now get ready for Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy.