Irfan Pathan bowls West to a comprehensive win

After facing a dearth of quality left-arm quicks for a long while, India suddenly find them sprouting from all corners. After Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, it was the turn of another left-arm quick from Baroda to leave his mark on the national scene on Friday. The 23-year-old Irfan Pathan Junior playing his maiden Duleep Trophy match claimed 6-72 in the Central Zone's second innings to bowl West to a 161-run win in the four-day which ended at the Municipal Stadium, Rajkot.

In the morning, Central were set an unlikely victory target of 389 after West declared at the overnight score of 213 for two. Any residual hopes Central were carrying were scuttled in the early overs of their innings as Pathan and leg-spinner Sairaj Bahatule shared the first four wickets to leave them reeling at 60 for four.

Then, came the best partnership of the Central innings as skipper Gagan Khoda and Jai P Yadav got together. The duo put on 62 for the fifth wicket before Khoda (51) was snared by off-spinner Ramesh Powar. After that it was a steady procession of batsmen to the pavilion as the rest of the batsmen struggled to survive. Yadav, in a rich vein of form, was the only saving grace; he reached 120 not out before running out of partners for the second time in the match.

Bahatule ended with 3-68 while Powar returned figures of 1-21 from his 10 overs. West claimed eight points for their win. They now play North in their next tie at Pune from March 19 to 22.