Yuvraj Singh took a big stride towards cementing his place in the Test eleven, hitting a swashbuckling unbeaten century to help North Zone score a thumping nine-wicket victory against West in a Duleep Trophy league match in Lucknow on Thursday.
Chasing a target of 207, North romped home with Yuvraj reamining not out on 100 (16 x 4) on the penultimate day of the rubber at the K D Singh Babu Stadium.
Yuvraj, declared the man-of-the-match, added 170 for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir, who was equally impressive in scoring an unbeaten 79.
The stylish Punjab left-hander, who came at the fall of Virender Sehwag (15), exhibited an array of attractive shots on either side of the wicket and raced to his hundred in 115 balls.
Yuvraj was particluarly severe on star pace bowler Zaheer Khan, carting him for four boundaries in his two successive overs.
Earlier, West, resuming at their overnight score of 146 for 5, lost wickets in quick succession and were bundled out for 201 in 63.1 overs.
Leg spinner Amit Mishra emerged as the most successful bowler, scalping five for 52 runs.
Barring opener Wasim Jaffer (47), Kiran Pawar (37) and all-rounder Rajesh Pawar (39), none of the other West batsmen impressed as the last six wickets managed to add only 81 runs.
North began their chase on a cautious note but soon lost Sehwag when he tried to loft a flighted delivery from Pawar. Sehwag, who made 33 in the first innings, was caught at long of by Zaheer Khan.
Gambhir, however, carried on carefully and slowly came up with some fine shots to make 79 with the help of nine boundaries.
But the crowd puller was undoubtedly Yuvraj as he delighted the spectators with his power play, negotiating both pacers and spinners with amazing ease.
Scorecard
West Zone (1st Innings) 201
North Zone (1st Innings) 196
West Zone (2nd Innings)
S Parab lbw b Mongia 14
W Jaffar c Chopra b Gagandeep 47
D Jadhav lbw b Mishra 31
N Patel c Nehra b Bhatia 17
K Pawar lbw b Mishra 37
P Patel c Yuvraj b Bhatia 1
R Pawar c Gambhir b Mishra 39
R Powar c Mishra b Nehra 1
Zaheer Khan b Mishra 0
R Patel c Bisla b Mishra 10
S Trivedi not out 0
Extras (lb-1, n-3) 4
Total (all out in 63.1 overs) 201
Fall of Wickets: 1/22, 2/78, 3/96, 4/120, 5/127, 6/185, 6/187, 8/189, 9/198
Bowling: A Nehra 15-1-58-1, Gagandeep 8-3-17-1, V Bhatia 10-1-44-2, D Mongia 4-2-9-1, A Mishra 20.1-2-52-5, V Sehwag 6-0-20-0.
North Zone (2nd Innings)
V Shewag c Zaheer b R Pawar 15
G Gambhir not out 79
Y Singh not out 100
Extras (b-5, lb-5, nb-3, w-1) 14
Total (for 1 wkt, 43.3 overs) 208
Fall of Wickets: 1/38
Bowling: Zaheer 9-1-32-0, S Trivedi 2-0-14-0, R Pawar 13-1-54-1, R Powar 14-1-60-0, R Patel 4-0-22-0, S Parab 1.3-0-16-0.
