Duleep Trophy: Yash Rathod smokes twin fifties against NEZONE
What's the story
Twin fifties from Yash Rathod have powered Central Zone in the ongoing Duleep Trophy quarter-final clash against North East Zone in Bengaluru. While the middle-order batted scored an unbeaten 87 in his first outing, he backed it up with a fiery 78. Thanks to his brilliance, CZONE have set a massive target of 679 runs for their opposition. Here we decode their stats.
Knock
Rathod powers CZONE past 500
Tons from Danish Malewar (203) and Rajat Patidar (125) meant CZONE were well in command when Rathod arrived to bat in the first innings. He added salt to NEZONE's woes with his brilliant strokeplay. The batter looked set to touch three figures. However, skipper Patidar declared the innings at 532/4 when Rathod was batting on 87. He smoked 11 fours during his 108-ball stay.
3rd innings
A knock of 78 on Day 3
CZONE gained a mammoth first-innings lead as NEZONE's first innings ended at just 185/10. Rathod added to the latter's woes with another fifty in his second outing. Arriving to bat at 170/4, he added 131 runs with centurion Shubham Sharma (122) as Central Zone's second innings ended at 331/7d. Rathod made an 83-ball 78 on this occasion, having again smoked 11 fours.
Career
A look at his FC stats
Rathod, who represents Vidarbha in domestic cricket, has raced to 1,670 runs across 19 First-Class matches at an average of 48.54. The tally now includes six tons and eight fifties. The Nagpur-born player has also represented Team India Under-19 in the past. However, Rathod missed out on a spot in India's Under-19 World Cup squad in early 2020 due to COVID-19.
DYK
Most runs in 2024-25 Ranji Trophy
It must be noted that Rathod ended the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 as the highest run-getter. As per ESPNcricinfo, the middle-order batter accumulated 960 runs across 10 games and 18 innings at a healthy average of 53.33 in Vidarbha's title-winning run. Five of his six FC tons came in the season as he also tallied three fifties.