Jaggi century guides East to 232

Jalaj Saxena's five-for put Central Zone in a strong position on the third day of the Duleep Trophy final in Chennai. Ishank Jaggi, the Jharkhand batsman, was the only one from East Zone to put up resistance for a sustained period as he made his sixth first-class century. Jaggi, unbeaten on 3 overnight, batted through the day and remained unbeaten after having faced 251 deliveries and hit 12 fours.

East were made to wait for the breakthrough in the morning by Jaggi and Iresh Saxena, the nighwatchman. Praveen Kumar bowled full lengths, and the close catchers on the leg side failed to come into play. Mohammad Kaif decided to increase the number of slips but it was spin that gave Central Zone their first wicket of the morning. Jalaj had Iresh bowled with a flighted delivery and the opening gave Central Zone two more quick wickets.

Saurabh Tiwary was caught behind by an arm ball from Murali Kartik while Biplab Samantray edged Jalaj to slip. East Zone were in trouble at 117 for 6 but Jaggi found a reliable partner in his statemate Shiv Gautam as the duo added a slow 57 for the seventh wicket. It was to become the highest partnership of the innings before Praveen had Gautam caught behind for 34. Ishwar Pandey, the Madhya Pradesh fast bowler, then picked up two wickets in three deliveries as East Zone slumped to 190 for 9.

The last pair was to defy Central Zone for 12.5 overs, of which last man Alok Mangaraj batted only 14 deliveries. Jaggi, on 67 when the ninth man fell, farmed the strike as East Zone added 42 more. Jaggi didn't take too many chances against the spinners. His first ten boundaries came against the quicks, and it was only on 89 that he lofted Kartik over mid-off for four. He moved to 99 with another lofted boundary, over mid-on, off Jalaj and worked the next delivery to mid-on to bring up his century. Jalaj bowled Mangaraj in the same over to end with only his second first-class five-for in 43 games.

Central Zone played out a testing over from Ashok Dinda and a harmless one from Basant Mohanty before the umpires decided light had deteriorated too much to allow play. Apart from a short rain break after lunch, though, play was possible for the rest of the day.