An unbeaten century by opener Satyajit Parab gave the Sachin Tendulkar-led West Zone a nine wicket victory over South Zone in a Duleep Trophy league match in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Parab scored a masterly 106 and was ably supported by Irfan Pathan (61), who was promoted in the batting order, to guide the team to the comprehensive victory at the Visaka stadium on the penultimate day of the four-day match.
After restricting South to 241 in their second innings earlier in the day, West got the required 223 runs losing only Wasim Jaffer's wicket. The Mumbai opener scored 28.
The crowd was again disappointed as Tendulkar, who scored just four in the first innings, was not required to bat the second time with Pathan and Parab taking West home without any further damage.
South Zone, resuming at their overnight score of 141 for five, were bundled out for 241 just 40 minutes after lunch with not out batsman Venugopal Rao compiling a neat 79 to help set a target of 222.
Parab and Jaffer began the chase in right earnest and batted with elegance against South's bowling attack, led by Test star Laxmipathi Balaji and D Vinay Kumar.
The two new ball bowlers were not effective with the wicket going slow without offering any assistance.
Parab's 150-ball knock was a result of a 227-minute long toil during which time he hit 17 fours.
Jaffer was dismissed by Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman taking a neat catch in the slips.
That was the only success for South as Pathan joined Parab and the duo took the game away.
Scorecard
South Zone 1st innings: 187
West Zone 1st innings: 207
South Zone 2nd innings
AR Uthappa c Jaffer b Pathan 40
BM Rowland lbw b Pathan 11
VVS Laxman b Khan 13
R Dravid c NK Pate b Powar 5
S Sriram c PA Pate b Pawar 23
Y Venugopal Rao st PA Patel b Pawar 79
KKD Karthik b Agarkar 20
A Kumble c PA Pate b Agarkar 5
L Balaji c PA Patel b Powar 21
R Vinay Kumar run out (Agarkar) 0
R Jesura not out 1
Extras (b 6, nb 17) 23
Total (all out, 83.3 overs, 362 mins) 241
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-58, 3-69, 4-78, 5-132, 6-184, 7-194, 8-228, 9-228, 10-241
Bowling: Agarkar 20-5-58-2, Pathan 17-1-58-2, Khan 14-0-38-1, Powar 20-3-46-2, Pawar 11.3-3-33-2, Tendulkar 1-0-2-0
West Zone 2nd innings (target: 222 runs)
SS Parab not out 106
W Jaffer c Laxman b Kumble 28
IK Pathan not out 61
Extras (b 12, lb 7, nb 9) 28
Total (1 wicket, 49.1 overs, 217 mins) 223
Fall of wickets: 1-76.
Bowling: Balaji 12-2-53-0, Vinay Kumar 10-0-58-0, Jesuraj 8-1-33-0, Kumble 15-3-40-1, Sriram 2-0-9-0, Venugopal Rao 2.1-0-11-0.
