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Hyderabad: South Zone's Manish Pandey and Abhinav Mukund slammed centuries each against Central Zone on the first day of their four-day Duleep Trophy match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
With the nation celebrating its 62nd Republic Day, Pandey and Mukund set off the fireworks with some sparkling strokeplay before Central hit back in the post-tea session to slow down the South charge. At close of play, South were 416 for eight with Pandey unbeaten at 203. The 21-year-old, who went on to make his career best knock, was in superb touch as he made Central pay for their lapse on the field.
Pandey completed his double century off 188 balls with 19 hits to the fence and seven sweetly timed sixes. He may not be a copy book cricketer but Pandey makes up for it with his carefree approach to batting. Blessed with immense timing and power, Pandey made the most of the good bounce that the wicket afforded to play his shots all round the park.
His 324-minute knock was sheer entertainment as he gave no respite to the rivals. Skipper S Badrinath won a good toss and chose to make first use of the wicket, which turned out to be a good batting strip. Medium pacer RP Singh got the first breakthrough when he had Robin Uthappa (1) adjudged caught down the legside by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha. It was a bad decision for the Karnataka opener, who has been struggling for form of late, as TV replays showed that the bat was nowhere near the ball.
Badrinath joined Mukund and the duo kept the Central attack at bay while continuing to get runs at a quick pace but the visitors had their stroke of luck when the skipper was sent back by Mukund after deciding to take a sharp single. A rushing Devendra Bundela threw down the stumps with Badrinath (13) stranded. It was a big wicket for Central and they fancied their chances of containing the strong South Zone batting.
But in strode Pandey and it was a one-way traffic thereafter as the formidable Central pace attack was made to look ordinary. The hunters turned into the hunted as the Central bowlers began to wilt under sustained onslaught from both ends. It seemed as if both batsmen were having a little game of their own at the middle. The left-right combination only added to the misery of the bowlers.
Mukund got to his 14th first-class century and the fourth of the season with a boundary off mediumpacer Pankaj Singh. His 100 came off 136 balls and contained 21 fours. But the Tamil Nadu opener did not stay long enough to savour the landmark as he chased an away delivery from RP Singh straight into the safe hands of skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar at gully.
The duo realised 174 runs for the third wicket off just 175 balls. However, Pandey continued to thrive and with Dinesh Karthik for company the Karnataka lad just went about his job of mauling the rival attack. He raced to his three-figure mark with two sixes and a four to move from 84 to 100 off spinner Akshay Wakhare, who had come in place of Murali Kartik.
The Nainital- born Pandey's seventh first-class century came off just 86 balls with 10 fours and five sixes. Central messed it up further when Pankaj Singh dropped Pandey when the latter was on 127. The bowler to suffer was RP Singh. Karthik (37) soon departed to Central's relief. With the South batsmen beginning to slow down the proceedings, Central slowly began to claw their way back into the game.
Brief scores
South Zone 416 for 8 (Pandey 203*, Mukund 105)
