Kanitkar slams unbeaten ton

Hrishikesh Kanitkar slammed an unbeaten 154 as West Zone made a mockery of the East Zone bowling attack to reach a commanding 274 for one in their first innings by close of play on the opening day of their Duleep Trophy match in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, the visitors lost opener Niranjan Godbole (18) early but an unfinished 241-run second wicket partnership between Kanitkar and Nilesh Modi (88 no) put the team in the driver's seat by the end of the day at the Eden Gardens.

Kanitkar began sedately but gradually opened up to execute some glorious shots on both sides of the wicket with none of the East bowlers able to trouble him on what looked a very good batting track.

While Kanitkar led from the front and did the bulk of the scoring, his partner Modi seemed quite content to give support to his senior partner in the stand that threatened to take the game away from East on the first day itself.

East had themselves to blame for allowing the partnership to flourish as they dropped both Kanitkar and Modi when they were in the 60s, lapses which proved very costly.

Skipper Sanjay Raul kept rotating his bowlers in a bid to break the second wicket stand but without much luck as the duo kept their concentration level going right through.

Mail Cricket Editor