Duleep Trophy: Prithvi Shaw smashes half-century on rain-affected opening day Chennai

Prithvi Shaw hammered an unbeaten 61 off 66 balls and put on a century stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal as West Zone raced to 116 for no loss on a rain-hit opening day of their Duleep Trophy match against North East Zone .
Sent in to bat the North East skipper Hokaito Zhimomi after a long delay, Shaw made his intentions clear right from the start.
He was not afraid to go aerial as well, smacking four sixes apart from hitting five boundaries. Shaw reached his fifty in style, hoing two sixes on the leg-side off Rex Rajkumar’s bowling. Jaiswal (55 batting), who was watchful, however did not miss out when opportunities presented themselves. He employed the cut shot to good effect.
The right-left batter combination of Shaw and Jaiswal did not have much trouble and it appeared as if the duo was having batting practice against an inexperienced North East attack. Bad light halted proceedings after 25 overs and subsequently play was called off.
Brief scores : West zone 116 for no loss on 25 overs (Prithvi Shaw 61 batting,Yashasvi Jaiswal 55 batting) Vs North East Zone.
North zone makes 179/3 on day 1
In Puducherry, East Zone reached 179 for 3 in 54 overs against North Zone in the other quarterfinal on a rain-hit opening day.
The highly rated Riyan Parag,who was sent as the opener, fell to Navdeep Saini for 8 in the fourth over after a delayed start. Fellow opener Sudip Kumar Gharami (68, 137 balls, 10 fours) and Anustup Majumdar (47) ensured that the North bowlers did not cause any more damage with the new ball. They batted with caution and put on 79 runs for the second wicket before Majumdar fell to medium pacer Siddharth Jail.
Vice captain Virat Singh (43 batting) settled in for a half century stand with Gharami before the latter fell to Himanshu Rana.
Skipper Manoj Tiwary, who joined his deputy in the middle, ensured that there were no further setbacks for East. Earlier, North zone captain Mandeep Singh won the toss and invited East to bat first. Brief scores : East Zone 179 for 3 (Sudip Kumar Gharami 68) Vs North zone.