Hyderabad: Yuvraj Singh made a brilliant comeback into
first-class arena as he smashed an unbeaten century for North Zone
against Central on the first day of a semifinal match in the Duleep
Trophy.
At stumps, North were in commanding position having
scored 346 for 4, riding on Yuvraj's superb unbeaten 133 while skipper
Shikhar Dhawan also made his presence felt with an innings of 121.
The
innings on Sunday will certainly end any doubts whatsoever about
Yuvraj's fitness and his ability to withstand the rigours of longer
version of the game after recovering from rare germ cell cancer.
He
played only 152 deliveries during his knock and hit 20 boundaries and
two huge sixes off discarded India veteran Murali Kartik.
Both
sixes were sent soaring over deep mid-wicket and the second one saw the
talented left-hander reach three-figure mark. This is Yuvraj's 19th
first-class century but certainly one he would remember for a long time
to come.
There were no demons in the 22-yard strip at the Rajiv
Gandhi Stadium in Uppal and Yuvraj didn't for once looked like in any
sort of trouble as he kept on punishing the Central bowlers.
Credit
should also be given to Dhawan who scored his second Duleep Trophy
century of the season. His 200-ball innings contained 14 hits to the
fence and, more importantly, added 160 runs with his senior partner for
the third wicket in just over 20 overs.
Such was Yuvraj's
dominance that he came to bat only in the 53rd over of the innings which
was well after lunch but took on the bowlers from the very beginning.
The
trio of Praveen Kumar (2-72), Bhuvenshwar Kumar (0-63) and Rituraj
Singh (0-67) were treated with equal disdain while Kartik was singled
out for special treatment.
36-year-old Railways left-arm spinner
Kartik, who is not known to perform well on good batting tracks, was
hammered for 92 runs in 19 overs as Yuvraj sent him on a leatherhunt.
The two towering sixes he hit off Kartik were majestic as the veteran bowler looked clueless during Yuvraj-Dhawan partnership.
Yuvraj's
innings can give Sandeep Patil and Co another option in the Indian Test
team's middle-order. With his handy left-arm spin to complement his
elegant batting, the day might not be far when Yuvraj might be seen
playing Test matches where he badly wants to make a mark.
At least today's innings was an indicator of what can be expected from this enormously gifted cricketer.
Brief Score: North Zone 346/4 (Yuvraj Singh batting 133, Shikhar Dhawan 121, Praveen Kumar 2-72) vs Central Zone.
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